Nearly 5 million Americans are living with heart failure, and 550,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. Heart failure is a chronic and often progressive disease. Treatment programs to help all heart failure patients lead productive and rewarding lives are available through the Memorial Heart & Vascular Institute Heart Failure program.
The more common forms of heart failure—those due to damage that has accumulated over time—can't be cured. They can, however, be treated and oftentimes symptoms can be greatly decreased. Memorial Heart & Vascular Institute offers a number of programs and treatments to help you manage your heart failure and take control of your life.
Education
Following recommendations about diet, exercise and other habits can help to alleviate symptoms, slow heart failure’s progression and improve everyday life.
Memorial Heart & Vascular Institute offers an outpatient education program that helps heart failure patients understand their condition and what they can do to improve their daily life and overall outcomes. The program highlights nutrition, medication and lifestyle changes.
Smoking Cessation
Long Beach Memorial Medical Center offers a smoking cessation program. Quitting smoking greatly reduces heart failure symptoms and helps improve outcomes.
Medications
Most people with heart failure take a number of medications that work in different ways. Some help to improve circulation by strengthening the heart muscle's pumping action or expanding the blood vessels. Others help to reduce the amount of water and sodium in the body, which in turn reduces the heart's workload. Patients and their families need to keep track of prescribed medications and follow instructions on how much to take and when to take them. At MHVI, our physicians and pharmacists can help determine the proper medications and dosage and help you stick with a program to keep you feeling your best.
Surgery
At MHVI, we offer heart failure patients several surgical options when lifestyle and medication aren’t enough. In some cases, coronary artery bypass surgery or angioplasty can ease heart failure symptoms by increasing blood flow to the heart. Additionally, we are researching new surgical alternatives and are encouraged by the emerging prospects for managing heart failure.
At Memorial Heart & Vascular Institute, our physicians, surgeons and staff are here to help you regain control of your cardiovascular health.
Management of Side Effects
Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea is a common affliction among heart failure patients. MHVI works with the Sleep Disorder Center at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center to offer heart failure patients sleep evaluations, and for those diagnosed with apnea, continuous positive airway pressure or CPAP treatment options.
Infusion Center
MHVI works with the Infusion Center at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center to offer heart failure patients intravenous vasoactive medications to manage heart contractions and severe symptoms on an outpatient basis.
