Right-sided heart failure

Alternative names:

congestive heart failure - right

Definition:

A disorder in which the right side of the heart loses its ability to pump blood efficiently, thereby failing to meet the demands of the body; often a complication of other disorders

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

Heart failure may affect the right side, left side, or both sides of the heart. As pumping action is lost on the right side of the heart, blood may back up into other areas of the body including the liver, gastrointestinal tract, and extremities. The heart may be unable to pump blood efficiently to the lungs.

Causes of right-sided heart failure include left-sided heart failure and chronic lung diseases such as emphysema. Other causes include congenital heart disease, heart-valve disease, and cardiomyopathy. When an individual is predisposed to heart failure, anything that puts additional efforts on the heart may precipitate acute symptoms. Precipitating factors include increased activity, increased fluids, high salt intake, high fever or complicated infections, anemia, irregular heartbeats (arrhythmias), hyperthyroidism, kidney disease, medications that affect contraction of the heart muscle (such as beta-blockers and calcium channel blockers), and stopping some medications (diuretics, digoxin, ACE inhibitors). Other risk factors include smoking, obesity, and excess alcohol consumption.

Right sided heart failure occurs in approximately 5 out of 100 people.