Commonly called Congestive Heart Failure (CHF).

CHF occurs when the heart cannot pump enough blood to the rest of the body.

Symptoms

CHF is a chronic, long term condition, but may sometimes develop suddenly.  It may affect only the left or only the right side of the heart (left sided or right sided heart failure) or but often both sides of the heart are affected.
Two conditions can occur:

• The heart cannot eject blood out of the heart very well (systolic heart failure)
• The heart muscles are stiff and don’t fill up with blood (diastolic heart failure)

As a result of any of these conditions is that the heart cannot pump enough oxygenated blood out to the rest of the body, particularly during exercise.

In addition, blood may back-up in other areas of the body causing fluid to build up in the lungs, liver, gastrointestinal tract, arms and legs.  In advanced heart failure, many tissues and organs may not even receive enough oxygen and nutrients they require for functioning at rest.

Common symptoms are:

Shortness of breath
Cough
Swelling of feet and ankle
Swelling of the abdomen
Weight gain
Irregular or rapid pulse
Palpitations
Difficulty sleeping
Fatigue, weakness
Loss of appetite, indigestion

Other symptoms are:

Decreased alertness
Inability to concentrate
Decreased urine production
Nausea and vomiting
Need to urinate at night

Causes

The most common cause of heart failure is coronary artery disease (CAD) or narrowing of the small blood vessels that supply oxygen and blood to the heart.

Another cause of CHF is the weakening of the heart muscle due to infection (cardiomyopathy).

Other causes are:
Heart valve disease
Congenital heart disease
Heart attack
Certain arrhythmias
Emphysema
Severe anemia
Hyperthyroidism
Hypothyroidism

Diagnosis

Physical examination may reveal:
Pleural effusion
Irregular heartbeat
Leg swelling
Neck veins that stick out
Swelling of the liver
With the stethoscope:  abnormal heart sounds
In addition to blood workup, tests may include:
Chest X-ray
ECG
Echocardiogram
Cardiac stress test
Heart CT scan
Cardiac catheterization
MRI
Nuclear stress test