Congestive Heart Failure

Congestive heart failure, CHF, is when the heart fails at doing what it does best, pumping your heart. CHF effects more than two million people in America (Caroline 1018). Most people who have CHF knows what it is, and are on treatment for it. What most people who have CHF don’t know is the pathophysiology of their illness. Understanding how the heart works will allow people that suffer from congestive heart failure to have a clear view of what’s happening to their own body. The heart is one of the most important vital organ in your body. The main function of the heart is to pump oxygenated blood and provide adequate perfusion throughout our body. The heart is located in the chest, above the diaphragm, behind and slightly to the left

It is a thin membrane that lines the outmost layer of the heart. Digging deeper, the next layer is the myocardium. The myocardium is a thick muscular layer that sits lays between the epicardium and endocardium. Lastly, the endocardium is a thin membrane that lines the inside of the heart. Inside, the heart is divided into four chambers. The four chambers are right atrium, right ventricle, left atrium, and left ventricle. The left and right sides are divided by a thick membrane called the interventricular septum. Each atrium is where blood will flow back into the heart, and each ventricle is where blood is pumped out. The blood flow of the heart starts at the superior and inferior vena cava. The superior vena cava carries deoxygenated blood from the upper body into the right atrium, while the inferior vena cava carries deoxygenated blood from the lower body into the right atrium. As blood is pooled inside the right atrium, it will passively flow through the tricuspid valve into the right ventricle. The tricuspid valve is simply a one-way valve that prevents backflow of blood. Blood is then pumped from the right ventricle into the pulmonary arteries. The pulmonary arteries carry the deoxygenated blood to the alveoli inside the lungs. Through a process called diffusion, which is when molecules move from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration (Caroline 198). The carbon dioxide inside

Then the blood passes through the mitral valve, also known as the bicuspid valve, into the left atrium. Similar to the tricuspid valve, the mitral valve is also a one-way valve that prevents backflow of the heart. In the last chamber of the heart, the left ventricle will pump the oxygenated blood through the aortic valve into the aorta, which will then distribute the blood through our body. Congestive heart failure is divided into left and right sided heart failure. Left sided heart failure is caused by the left ventricle not being able to pump blood out effectively. This causes a backflow of blood which in turn creates more pressure in the left atrium and pulmonary vein. As pressure increase in the pulmonary vein from the backup of blood, serum from the pulmonary capillaries is forced out and pushed back into the alveoli. This serum mixes with air from the alveoli and creates pulmonary