A team of researchers has now determined in rodents how congestive heart failure triggers substantive changes to the nerves that control heart function.

Undergoing a heart attack or a heart failure seizure is not an easy thing to do, as most patients suffering from these conditions could tell you. The chances for another such event occurring increase significantly, as do the hospitalization rates for these patients. Now, a new scientific study comes to show tha... (read more)

Heart failure patients have four times the risk of fractures and 6.3 times the risk of hip fracture as other heart patients. Heart failure patients should be screened and treated for osteoporosis if necessary, researchers said.

A new study aims to improve the heart's pumping action and help to manage congestive heart failure symptoms. The US PARACHUTE trial tests the effectiveness of placing a small device in the left ventricle, or main pumping chamber of the heart. Physicians recently implanted the sixth person in the United States with the device.

An implantable hemodynamic monitor may help to guide medical treatment in a large subgroup of patients with heart failure: those with diastolic heart failure.

Individuals who have persistent high blood pressure are at increased risks of a number of serious medical conditions, including heart failure. One of the factors that contributes to such heart failure is thickening of the muscle wall of the heart.

Cardiac resynchronization can significantly delay the progression of heart failure, according to a major international study. The treatment reduced the risk of serious heart failure events by 41 percent, the study found.

Patients with atrial fibrillation, common in those with advanced chronic heart failure, have an increased risk of hospitalization due to heart failure, according to new research. The findings also suggest that atrial fibrillation is not associated with an increased risk of death in heart failure patients, contradicting previous assumptions.

Although heart failure is a chronic condition, acute exacerbations are frequent and occur with serious complications; patients with heart failure and their families can help improve prognosis in acute events if they are taught to recognize the tell-tale signs of worsening condition and seek immediate medical help.

Fibroblasts are the most numerous cell type in the heart, but they are considered to have a less important role in heart failure than heart muscle cells. However, a team of researchers has now determined that fibroblasts are essential for the response of the mouse heart to conditions that mimic high blood pressure, a response that if sustained ultimately leads to heart failure.