Dr. Mitchell C Rosenberg, MD

Heart failure is a condition where the heart is unable to pump enough blood to the body. The heart is a muscle that contains four chambers. Blood flows into the heart in the upper champers, atria, when the heart is relaxed (diastole). The blood flows into the lower chambers, or ventricles, where it is pumped out to the body as the heart muscle contracts (systole). The blood in the right side of the heart travels to the lungs where it picks up oxygen and then returns to the left side of the heart where it is pumped to the body. There are two types of heart failure. During systolic heart failure the left ventricle does not pump properly. Blood backs up in the veins and lungs. During diastolic heart failure, the left ventricle does not relax preventing the chamber from filling with blood properly. The heart pumps the reduced blood supply to the body at a normal rate.