Congestive Heart Failure: Treatment

A variety of medicines are available to help treat congestive heart failure. Some of the most frequently prescribed medications include:

• Diuretics (water or fluid pills), which reduce fluid buildup in the lungs and body swelling.
• ACE inhibitors, which decrease blood pressure and lessen any strain on the heart. They may also help lessen the chance of a heart attack.
• Aldosterone antagonists, which cause the body to dispose of excess salt and water in urine, helping lower the volume of blood that the heart must pump and lessening its workload.
• Angiotensin receptor blockers, which help decrease blood pressure and relax blood vessels.
• Beta blockers, which decrease heart rate and blood pressure.
• Isosorbide dinitrate/hydralazine hydrochloride, which relax blood vessels.
• Digoxin, which makes the heart beat stronger.

If you have trouble breathing, you may be given an oxygen tank to make breathing easier and more productive.

Additional Forms of Treatment

As heart failure worsens, former treatment methods may no longer be the most effective. Surgery and other methods may be necessary.

If you have heart damage and severe heart failure symptoms, you may need:

• Cardiac resynchronization therapy. This therapy works by placing a pacemaker near your heart. The device helps both sides of the heart contract simultaneously, which helps correct the heart's pumping.
• An implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). ICDs are similar to pacemakers. The device checks your heart rate and corrects heart rhythms that are too fast and helps regulate a normal heartbeat.
• A mechanical heart pump, such as a left ventricular assist device. This device helps pump blood from the heart to the rest of the body. People may use pumps until they have surgery or as a long-term treatment.
• Heart transplant. When all other treatments fail to control symptoms, some people who have heart failure receive healthy hearts from organ donors.
• Experimental treatments. Studies are under way to see whether open-heart surgery or angioplasty (a procedure used to unblock heart arteries, improving blood flow) can reduce heart failure symptoms.

This information has been adapted from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.