The cardiovascular diseases

THE LEFT CARDIAC INSUFFICIENCY

- Definition
- A few explanations
- The Symptoms
- How to make the diagnosis?
- The Causes
- Evolution
- Treatment
- Conclusion

DEFINITION

The heart includes 4 cavities: 2 auricles and 2 ventricles.

Ventricles are cavities of the heart capable of ejecting blood into the arteries.

The contraction of the right ventricle causes the ejection of blood into the pulmonary artery, whereas the contraction of the left ventricle is responsible for the ejection of blood into the aorta.

A left cardiac insufficiency, or left ventricular insufficiency, is defined as the inability of the left ventricle to assure the blood output necessary to the organism's needs.

The left cardiac insufficiency is a more and more frequent pathology, met in particular in the elderly. The predominant causes are the illnesses of the heart due to an illness of the heart arteries (coronary arteries) or to a HBP (high blood pressure).

The treatment has benefited from the therapeutic progresses but its evolution is often unfavourable in the middle- or long terms.

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File last reviewed on dec 18, 2011