Continued from last week
Right-sided (congestive)
heart failure
Last week, we discussed the left-sided congestive heart failure, which was the result primarily of the inability of the left ventricle (lower chamber) to function properly. Similarly, the condition known as the right-sided congestive heart failure occurs when the right ventricle is not operating adequately. The consequence is the backing-up of the blood in the right atrium (top chamber of the heart). This means that there is a further dam-up of the blood in the immediate big veins, and in those smaller veins, draining into the big veins, and in the capillaries that drain into the smaller veins,
Symptoms
Because of this back-up, important organs – especially the liver – become enlarged (congested with blood), and their functions become compromised. If the pressure (caused by the backing-up of
