Causes of Heart Failure

The diagnosis of cardiomyopathy indicates that there is a disease process that has caused the heart muscle to enlarge. As a result, the heart can’t pump blood effectively to all of the organs and tissues in the body and fails (heart failure). Heart failure usually refers to the function of the left ventricle. Fluid backs up in the blood vessels, the lungs, liver, abdomen,and legs. Because of the lack of oxygen and nutrients to the rest of the body,the other organ systems can begin to fail also. Some causes of congestive heart failure (CHF), or weakening of the heart muscle, may include, but are not limited to:

• Heart attack (also called myocardial infarction, or MI)
• High blood pressure (hypertension, or HTN)
• Valvular heart disease
• Congenital (present at birth) heart conditions
• Cardiac arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats)
• Pulmonary hypertension (elevated blood pressure within the lung’s blood vessels)
• Alcoholism or drug abuse
• Chronic lung diseases, such as emphysema or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• Cardiomyopathy (an enlargement of the heart muscle)
• Anemia (low red blood cell count)