Because of this, and due to the increased blood pressure in the veins, fluid seeps out into the surrounding tissue. Congestive heart failure is the inability of the heart to pump adequately, thereby the legs will often become swollen. Both peripheral and abdominal edema can be caused by congestive heart disease (ascites). This is because the heart is too weak to pump blood around the body properly, so the blood gathers in front of the heart. Find this pin and more on health by marla flanagan. What to do if you have edema everyday health.
Most often there's swelling in the legs and ankles, but it can happen in other parts of the body, too. Congestive heart failureĬongestive heart failure (CHF) is a type of heart failure which requires seeking timely medical attention, although sometimes the two terms are used interchangeably.Īs blood flow out of the heart slows, blood returning to the heart through the veins backs up, causing congestion in the body's tissues. This usually causes swelling or congestion in the legs, ankles and swelling within the abdomen such as the GI tract and liver (causing ascites). When the right side loses pumping power, blood backs up in the body's veins. When the left ventricle fails, increased fluid pressure is, in effect, transferred back through the lungs, ultimately damaging the heart's right side. Right-sided or right ventricular (RV) heart failure usually occurs as a result of left-sided failure. The right ventricle then pumps the blood back out of the heart into the lungs to be replenished with oxygen. The heart's pumping action moves "used" blood that returns to the heart through the veins through the right atrium into the right ventricle.
The heart can't properly fill with blood during the resting period between each beat.
Drug treatments are different for the two types. There are two types of left-sided heart failure. In left-sided or left ventricular (LV) heart failure, the left side of the heart must work harder to pump the same amount of blood. The left ventricle supplies most of the heart's pumping power, so it's larger than the other chambers and essential for normal function. The heart's pumping action moves oxygen-rich blood as it travels from the lungs to the left atrium, then on to the left ventricle, which pumps it to the rest of the body.