In some rare cases of congestive heart failure, where medicines fail to produce the desired effects, surgeries and other such medical devices become essential.  Doctors usually recommend surgical procedures for treating the underlying condition that caused congestive heart failure. For instance, a damaged valve of the heart can be repaired or replaced if necessary. If not done, it can lead to heart failure. Doctors also suggest coronary bypass surgery for treating narrowed coronary arteries that might as well lead to congestive heart failure.

 

Researchers are still on their way to find out new and innovative techniques for treating congestive heart failure. Some treatment options are also being studied till now and are being used in some cases.

 

  • Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators or ICDs: An ICD is a medical device that is implanted under the patient’s skin and then attached with small wires, to the heart. The ICD assists in monitoring the rhythm of the heart. If the heart beats at an abnormal rhythm, the ICD can shock it back to the normal rhythm. In some cases, a biventricular pacemaker can as well be combined with the ICD for patients suffering from severe congestive heart failure.
  • Cardiac resynchronization therapy or CRT or biventricular pacing: Biventricular pacemaker is used for sending timed electrical impulses to the lower chambers of the heart, the left and the right ventricles, so as to enable them to pump blood all over in synchrony and in an efficient and coordinated manner. More than half of the complications related to the heart are caused due to abnormalities in the electrical system of the heart that causes the weakened heart muscles to beat rather in an uncoordinated manner. Such an inefficient contraction of the heart muscles further wastes the limited energy of the heart that might lead to the worsening of the heart conditions. In some rare cases however, biventricular pacemaker is used in conjunction with ICD for people at an increased risk of heat rhythm problems.
  • Heart pumps: These are mechanical devices, also known as left ventricular assist devices or LVADs and are implanted right into the patient’s abdomen and are attached to the weakened heart, thus assisting it to pump efficiently. Initially, heart pumps were used by doctors for keeping the patients of heart transplants alive till the time a donor was found. LVADs are recently being considered as the most suited alternative to heart transplantation. Implanted heart pumps are significantly helpful in extending as well as improving the life of patients suffering from end-stage congestive heart failure and are not eligible for heart transplant or are just waiting for a heart.

 

Some people tend to suffer form severe congestive heart failure and medications or surgery just don’t work in improving their condition. They might as well need a heart transplantation through which their diseased heart could be replaced with another healthy heart from a healthy donor. Heart transplant surgeries have dramatically improved over time and the survival rate as well as the quality of life is believed to be extremely satisfying. However, some of the patients for transplantation might have to wait for a considerable period of time before a suitable heart is found. Some candidates for transplants might even show improvements during the waiting period through the drugs and medications used.

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Filed under: Congestive Heart Failure Treatments

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