Acute decompensated left heart failure with pulmonary oedema

What it is

Heart failure is the inability of the ventricle to efficiently pump blood throughout the circulation. Left-sided heart failure covers both forms. In heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) reduced contractility gives systolic ventricular dysfunction, a decreased left ventricular ejection fraction and a decreased cardiac output, with an S3 and a dilated ventricle. In heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) decreased ventricular compliance gives diastolic ventricular dysfunction, reduced ventricular filling and increased diastolic pressure, so cardiac output falls while the left ventricular ejection fraction remains normal, and the ventricle is hypertrophied with thick walls and a normal chamber size. The numbers given for HFrEF are EF less than or equal to 35-40% in one place and EF less than or equal to 40% in another, and for HFpEF EF at or above 40-50% and EF at or above 50%. Acute decompensated heart failure is itself listed among the complications of heart failure, and the acute left-sided form is the one that comes with pulmonary congestion or edema.