Heart failure
Heart failure is a clinical syndrome in which structural or functional cardiac abnormalities contribute to symptoms and/or signs related to impaired ventricular filling or ejection.
Open interactive lesson & self-check ↗Four-chamber blood flow
Original conceptual SVG · scalableBlue arrows = relatively oxygen-poor blood; coral arrows = relatively oxygen-rich blood. Schematic flow; anatomy and dimensions are not to scale.
Understand the pump
Cardiac output depends on heart rate and stroke volume. Changes in preload, afterload and contractility can affect forward flow and filling pressures.
Recognize broad categories
Left- and right-sided dysfunction may coexist. Ejection fraction describes one aspect of left-ventricular systolic function but does not alone establish the diagnosis or severity.
Think in mechanisms
Neurohormonal responses may initially support circulation yet contribute to adverse remodeling and fluid retention when sustained.
Reference and next reading
Explore the original curriculum and publisher-hosted resources for full-depth reading; this note is an original schematic introduction, not an exhaustive chapter.