Treatment Options

Treating heart failure (HF) is necessary: it extends your life! It can also improve the quality of your life and prevent your heart from getting worse.

There are a number of things you can do today to be heart healthy:

• Call your doctor and schedule a full exam
• Start an exercise program (walking is a good start!)
• Take medications prescribed by your doctor
• Stop smoking
• Eat right
• Follow doctor’s orders!

If you are diagnosed with HF, your doctor will discuss treatment options with you. The treatment plan will be based on the underlying cause of the problem and can range from medications to surgical procedures. For example, if you suffer from high blood pressure, your doctor might prescribe medications that help control high blood pressure in addition to medications for HF; if your heart failure is advanced, a device like a special pacemaker might be necessary.

What's important is that you discuss your condition with your doctor to determine the possible causes and potential treatment options. Today's options include medication, device-based interventions and surgeries.

Medication Options

Prescription medications can help improve your heart function and your symptoms. Some of the prescription medications include:

• Beta Blockers, to slow your heart rate and lower your blood pressure to decrease the workload of the heart.
• ACE Inhibitors, to lower your blood pressure and reduce the strain on your heart.
• Diuretics (water or fluid pills), to help reduce fluid buildup in your lungs and swelling in your feet and ankles.

Note: Beta blockers and ACE inhibitors may also reduce the risk of a future heart attack.

Device-based Intervention

In some cases, the heart needs additional support from a device that helps correct irregular heart rhythms. These devices include:

• Pacemakers, medical devices which are designed to regulate the beating of the heart by sending electrical stimulation to the ventricles
• Biventricular Pacemakers, which re-coordinate the beating of the heart’s two ventricles by pacing both ventricles simultaneously
• Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICDs), which monitor the heart’s rhythms and deliver a shock to the heart when a life-threatening rhythm occurs

Surgery

When symptoms of heart failure persist and medical treatment options have failed, surgical treatment may be an alternative. The most common surgical procedures include:

• Heart valve repair
• Coronary artery bypass
• Left ventricular assist device, or LVAD (an implantable heart pump)
• Heart transplant