Heart failure what are the symptoms, how to treat it?

Heart failure is the inability of the heart to supply blood to the various organs of the body to ensure their necessary oxygenation and metabolism.

Οι καρδιακές παθήσεις είναι η κύρια αιτία θανάτου στην Αυστραλία. Κατά μέσο όρο, ένας Αυστραλός πεθαίνει κάθε 12 λεπτά ως αποτέλεσμα καρδιαγγειακής νόσου Source: Getty / Getty Images/zf L

KEY POINTS

• How common is heart failure
• With what symptoms it manifests itself
• What are the main risk factors

Patients suffering from heart failure feel tired or exhausted and fail to get rid of waste from their body properly - resulting in fluid build-up in the lungs and other parts of the body, such as the legs.

Heart failure can cause a range of complications, which can ultimately be life-threatening.

It is usually caused by other health problems such as coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, diabetes, hypertension, etc.

The number of all cases of heart failure in the general population is estimated at 3-20 per 1,000 people.

Heart failure is a malignant disease with a prognosis, often even worse than cancer.

Survival of patients with last stage heart failure at 4 years is only 50%.

But how is heart failure diagnosed and what are the symptoms?

These questions and many others are answered by the general practitioner, George Abouyanni.