The Failing Heart

In a way, five million congestive heart failure (CHF) sufferers are the victims of the success of new medical interventions developed in the past ten years. Because aspirin, clot-busting drug TPA, device procedures like angioplasty and stenting, implantable pacemakers and defibrillators have become standard therapies, patients that once would have died suddenly from heart attacks live on. However, it is only a temporary reprieve for many of them, who will die later from congestive heart failure resulting from the myocardial infarction. Once patients are diagnosed with CHF, 50% of them die within five years, and only 15 % will live for more than ten years. The initial cardiac insult sets in motion a vicious circle of compensating mechanisms. Eventually, the heart degenerates to the point where it can't pump enough blood to supply the body's needs. As the heart deteriorates, it tries even harder to compensate, causing further damage. In CHF, nothing fails like failure.

When heart muscle cells become damaged (because of a myocardial infarction, untreated hypertension, infection, or other causes), the heart begins to pump less efficiently. The left ventricle, the chamber of...