Although there is no cure, many of the symptoms can be controlled and managed.
Heart failure is not a diagnosis, but a term used to describe the reduced function of the heart caused by a condition or as a result of an injury.
Any type of cardiomyopathy can cause heart failure. Often, treatment for cardiomyopathy involves reducing the likelihood of heart failure developing, or controlling and reversing symptoms.
Heart failure is a collection of symptoms that happen when the heart isn’t pumping well enough. This may be because the walls of the ventricles (main pumping chambers of the heart) are enlarged, weakened, damaged or too stiff, or the heart’s valves don’t work properly. This affects how well the heart pumps (contracts), how well it relaxes to fill with blood between contractions, or how well the blood flows through the heart.
Sometimes symptoms may come on slowly over time (called chronic heart failure) or they can develop quickly (called acute heart failure). The most common symptoms of heart failure are the following.