What Decompensated Heart Failure?

Decompensated heart failure (DHF) is defined as a clinical syndrome in which a structural or functional change in the heart leads to its inability to eject and/or accommodate blood within physiological pressure levels, thus causing a functional limitation and requiring immediate therapeutic intervention⁽¹⁾.

What causes decompensated heart failure?

This most commonly results from an intercurrent illness (such as pneumonia), myocardial infarction (a heart attack), abnormal heart rhythms (such as atrial fibrillation), uncontrolled high blood pressure, or the person's failure to maintain a fluid restriction, diet, or medication.

How do you know when a heart failure patient is Decompensating?

Decompensated HF is characterised by an increase in symptoms such as breathlessness, fatigue, and fluid retention. It remains a lethal diagnosis with morbidity and mortality rates that often exceed neoplastic or infectious diseases.