Pathophysiology of acute and chronic cardiac failure

Cardiac (or myocardial) failure, a major health problem, can be defined using physiologic criteria that consider the adequacy of O2 delivery relative to the body's O2 requirements. In clinical terms, cardiac failure may be described in terms of its chronicity or the extent to which signs and symptoms of right- versus left-sided heart failure are dominant. Congestive heart failure is a clinical syndrome that consists of a constellation of signs and symptoms that arise from congested organs and hypoperfused tissues. Acute cardiac failure occurs because of a decrease in myocardial contractility that can be offset by the Frank-Starling mechanism. In chronic cardiac failure dilatation and myocardial hypertrophy serve to restore ventricular function. Other compensatory responses that are invoked include a salt avid kidney, which mediates an expansion of the intravascular space, and the activation of the adrenergic nervous and renin-angiotensin-aldosterone systems and an increase in circulating arginine vasopressin. The management of acute and chronic cardiac failure can be derived from an understanding of the pathophysiologic mechanisms responsible for their appearance and include improving cardiac performance, as well as the distribution of systemic blood flow to tissues based on physiologic priorities and moment to moment variations in O2 requirements.