Having junk and oily foods has become a common problem among the youth and the elderly. Irregular lifestyle and limited physical exercise are some of the reasons behind the increasing rate of heart failure among the mass population. The heart is composed of cardiac muscles which are the specialized form of muscles working tirelessly throughout the lifetime. Many intricate phenomena keep the heart going. The numerous networks of veins, capillaries, arteries, and valves make the heart a complicated organ. However, recurrent events of heart failure have raised concerns about the efficacy of heart failure treatment.
Facts about Heart Failure
In simple words, heart failure refers to a physiological condition when the heart does not pump an adequate amount of blood into your body. It may come up with an array of symptoms like breathing issues, fluid buildup in the lungs, and many more. In some people high levels of fats may cause a layer to get deposited within the arteries of the heart, disrupting the oxygen supply. The cardiac muscles may also become stiff and it is when the heart finds it difficult to function properly. Precise treatment and diet are the key factors behind a healthy heart. A person should incorporate nutritious eating habits and daily exercise to attain a healthy heart. There can be several symptoms related to heart failure, some of which include breathing difficulty, dizziness, persistent cough, irregular heartbeat, and many more. A person may also gain excess weight due to unnecessary fluid buildup in the body. In some serious cases, the person may also feel a sensation of chest pain vomiting, and nausea.
Various Treatments for Heart Failure
- Robotic Surgery Procedure- As one can find out by the name itself this treatment of heart failure is one of the most minimally invasive surgical procedures using computer-controlled robotic arms. The computerized and advanced algorithm gives instructions to the robotic arm to perform cardiac surgery without cutting your chest wide open. As the name suggests, robotic arm surgery is a computerized procedure to clear blocked arteries, thereby keeping the heart healthy. One of the advantages of robotic cardiac surgery is that it requires minimum invasion only in the form of a few incisions. As the robotic arm proceeds with heart surgery, the surgical precision increases many times. This is because there are fewer chances of local tissue damage. The lower-risk surgery is presumed to be the best in the case of heart surgery, as a minor human error may lead to serious consequences as a result of heart failure. Also, robotic cardiac surgery efficiently decreases the recovery time for the patients as there are fewer chances of post-operation trauma.
- Artery Grafting in Heart- Some people suffer from heart failure due to blocked blood vessels in the heart. The minute blood vessels are crucial as they are responsible for transporting oxygenated blood to all other organs of our body for their effective functioning. However, if there is a traffic jam on the roads leading to the heart, the result might be shocking. The clogged blood vessels will not transport adequate oxygen to the body thereby increasing the chances of multi-organ failure. The treatment in such cases is a crucial coronary artery grafting technique. It is more like clearing a traffic jam on the road to your destination. The surgery involves creating a new pathway for your blocked blood vessels by rerouting them. The doctors reroute the blood vessels to a new pathway by taking them from the arms, legs, or chest. The new route of blood vessels now serves as the bypass route to carry blood to essential organs and prevent the risk of future heart failures.
- Replacement of Heart Valves- Not many of u know that our heart comprises valves to prevent the backflow of blood in the opposite direction and maintain the unidirectional flow of the blood traveling from the heart to all other body parts. There are individuals, who suffer from valve-related heart failure and seek long-term treatment or therapy and for them, valve replacement can be an option. Replacing the original valves in the heart with those made of biocompatible material can be the savior in such situations. The valve replacement surgery is usually performed to correct the conditions of the valve, like narrowing of the walls, and also weakening of the valves leading to leaking and backflow of blood. The valve-related issue in the heart if left untreated, may pose serious life threats.
- Surgery for Aortic Aneurysm- This is another serious condition leading to heart failure. This condition develops over time due to the presence of certain chronic conditions like having high blood pressure, or other genetic conditions. In an aortic aneurysm, the walls of the artery carrying blood to all the major organs become abnormally weakened or dilated. When blood flows through it, the pressure may cause a rupture of the aorta, causing instant heart failure. This condition can be checked with certain medications and monitoring, but advanced surgery is best to achieve better life expectancy. In open aneurysm repair surgery, the damaged portion of the aorta is replaced with an artificially grown yet biocompatible graft through a large incision made on the body of the patient. It may restore normal blood flow. Sometimes, when the walls of the aorta get weakened, a stent metal graft is inserted into the inner walls of the aorta to ensure the smooth flow of blood.
- Heart Transplant Procedure in Severe Cases- In case of patients with severe forms of heart failure, advanced treatment is required. Advanced surgery may involve the complete replacement of the heart with another heart, depending on the severity of the heart failure. If major areas of the heart are not in functioning condition, heart replacement may be the only solution. The new heart is usually retrieved from a donor whose brain death has already occurred and, the concerned family has agreed upon organ donation. Certain tests are run by the doctors to check the tissue compatibility of the organ with that of the recipient and then surgical replacement of the heart takes place under extreme sterile conditions.
The domain of heart failure is huge and a lot of research is still needed to have a clear vision of the condition. However, modern scientific development in the medical field has paved a new path towards successful heart failure surgery like robotic cardiac surgery. Scientists are now identifying genes contributing to heart failure and devising methods to reverse them. Besides these, many advanced medical devices are also being introduced to treat heart failure with high efficacy.