Heart failure is a condition in which your heart can no longer provide enough blood to keep up with your body's needs. It can have different causes, from coronary artery disease to cardiomyopathy to heart attack or congenital heart problems. In many cases, heart failure can be treated effectively with medications. But, when medications don’t help and symptoms become severe, a heart transplant may need to be considered.
One of the primary ways cardiologists assess heart function is by measuring ejection fraction—that is, the percentage of blood in the heart's left ventricle ejected with each heartbeat. A normal ejection fraction is 55% to 65%. Many people with heart failure have an ejection fraction below 40%.
There are many symptoms of heart failure, ranging from mild to severe, including:
Through our advanced approaches at UR Medicine Cardiac Care, we are able to give heart failure patients greater hope than ever before. Our Program in Heart Failure and Transplantation is unique in the Rochester area. And, we’re the only center in Western New York that performs heart transplants with outcomes comparable to the best heart transplant centers in the nation. We’re also one of the nation's leading centers for research on ventricular assist devices—and one of the world's leading research centers on implantable defibrillators and cardiac resynchronization therapy. In fact, our program is the first in the region to receive Advanced Certification from the Joint Commission for Heart Failure and for Ventricular Assist Devices.
For details on the diagnosis and treatment of congestive heart failure, call UR Medicine Cardiac Care at (585) 273-3760.