Congestive heart failure (CHF) refers to a condition where the heart is not able to pump enough blood to the various parts of the body. This failure of heart in its function of pumping blood can result from various causes including narrowing of the arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle,
Previous history of myocardial infarction where the scar tissue interferes with the functioning of heart muscle, high blood pressure, Dysfunctional heart valve and others . The criteria of the congestive heart failure can be classified into Major Criteria and Minor Criteria.
Major criteria – It includes the following processes that cause profound effects on the heart.
Acute pulmonary edema
Paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea
Central venous pressure is over 16 cm H2O at the right atrium
Positive abdominojugular test
Crackles on lung auscultation
Cardiomegaly on chest radiography
S3 gallop (a third heart sound)
Weight loss of more than 4.5 kg in 5 days
Minor criteria- It includes the minor processes that suggests the possibility of heart failure.
Dyspnea on ordinary exertion
Pleural effusion
Hepatomegaly
Bilateral ankle edema
Tachycardia of over 120 beats per minute
Nocturnal cough
Decrease in vital capacity by 1/3 from the maximum
As per the Framingham criteria, the diagnosis of congestive heart failure needs to satisfy any one Levitra Super Active+ of the following two conditions.
(1) Simultaneous presence of at least two of the above major criteria
(2) Simultaneous presence of 1 major criterion in conjunction with any two of minor criteria
Minor criteria can only be accepted if they cannot be associated with any other medical condition like chronic lung disease, cirrhosis,pulmonary hypertension, nephrotic syndrome or ascites.
The Framingham Heart Study criteria are regarded as 100% sensitive and it is about 78% specific for detecting the definite congestive heart failure in the affected persons.