Last week, we defined heart failure as an inability of the heart to provide (by pumping) adequate circulation to meet the needs of the cells, tissues and organs of the body. We promised to discuss  left side and right side heart failures.

Left heart failure

You remember we had said at the beginning, when we were discussing the basics of the heart function and blood circulation (August 14), that the heart is made up of four chambers – the left and right top chambers (auricles) and the left and right bottom chambers (ventricles). When the left bottom chamber begins to fail, pressure builds up in the blood circulation relative to the lungs. The consequence is blood congestion in the lungs, which results in a continuous accumulation of fluid in the…..