Can someone please explain to me how CF causes the heart to fail and transplant may be needed? When I was sick in the hospital coughing up blood, they saw heart failure on the CT scan and told me I have a "leaky valve." Now that I am learning about the heart in one of my classes, the leaky valve seems serious. Is this cause for concern? Any suggestions? I have a regular appointment with my cf doctor next week so I want to have some knowledge about this issue so I can ask him the right questions. Do you al have any problems with your heart. The echo showed the leaky valve. My potassium level was 2.2 when I went in the hospital too.
Heart
- Thread starter kmhbeauty
- Start date
I think it is common for people with lung disease to show signs of it in their heart, but your doctor should give you indication of how serious the changes are.
Most common is hypertrophy (enlargement) of the right ventricle. Since you are reading this stuff in school, I'm guessing you know what wikipedia says, but I'll paste below anyway.
Do you know which valve is leaky? I have a leaky mitral valve and have shown pulmonary hypertension on echo, but then retesting had me as in the normal range and I have no enlargement of anything. I was told not to worry.
I don't know anything about potassium levels --sorry.
Edited to add: CT scan reports -- if that is what you are reading -- can be very unnerving without context as they lay it all out there with little to no interpretation. Many a dire situation has been listed as a possibility in my CT Scan reports, only to have my pulmonologist say, "Nah, that's fine." Try to relax and hang in there until your appointment next week. Please post an update if you can.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cor_pulmonale
The heart and lungs are intricately related. Whenever the heart is affected by disease, the lungs will follow and vice versa. Pulmonary heart disease is by definition a condition when the lungs cause the heart to fail.[SUP][1][/SUP]
The heart has two pumping chambers. The left ventricle pumps blood throughout the body. The right ventricle pumps blood to the lungs where it is oxygenated and returned to the left heart for distribution. In normal circumstances, the right heart pumps blood into the lungs without any resistance. The lungs usually have minimal pressure and the right heart easily pumps blood through.[SUP][2][/SUP]
However with certain lung diseases chronically present, like emphysema and chronic bronchitis (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - COPD) or pulmonary hypertension, the blood vessels of the lungs are significantly reduced in number (due to lung tissue destruction) and/or chronically constricted (due to poor alveolar ventilation in the case of COPD). The right ventricle is no longer able to push blood into the lungs effectively, and the chronic overload eventually causes it to fail.
Most common is hypertrophy (enlargement) of the right ventricle. Since you are reading this stuff in school, I'm guessing you know what wikipedia says, but I'll paste below anyway.
Do you know which valve is leaky? I have a leaky mitral valve and have shown pulmonary hypertension on echo, but then retesting had me as in the normal range and I have no enlargement of anything. I was told not to worry.
I don't know anything about potassium levels --sorry.
Edited to add: CT scan reports -- if that is what you are reading -- can be very unnerving without context as they lay it all out there with little to no interpretation. Many a dire situation has been listed as a possibility in my CT Scan reports, only to have my pulmonologist say, "Nah, that's fine." Try to relax and hang in there until your appointment next week. Please post an update if you can.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cor_pulmonale
The heart and lungs are intricately related. Whenever the heart is affected by disease, the lungs will follow and vice versa. Pulmonary heart disease is by definition a condition when the lungs cause the heart to fail.[SUP][1][/SUP]
The heart has two pumping chambers. The left ventricle pumps blood throughout the body. The right ventricle pumps blood to the lungs where it is oxygenated and returned to the left heart for distribution. In normal circumstances, the right heart pumps blood into the lungs without any resistance. The lungs usually have minimal pressure and the right heart easily pumps blood through.[SUP][2][/SUP]
However with certain lung diseases chronically present, like emphysema and chronic bronchitis (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - COPD) or pulmonary hypertension, the blood vessels of the lungs are significantly reduced in number (due to lung tissue destruction) and/or chronically constricted (due to poor alveolar ventilation in the case of COPD). The right ventricle is no longer able to push blood into the lungs effectively, and the chronic overload eventually causes it to fail.
Thank you, I get the concept a lot better now. I'm going to get my records and look into this further. I do not believe I have any enlargement. The cardiac doctor just said to have another echo in a year. This disease surprises me more and more everyday with how evil it is.
I think most heart murmurs are congenital (born with a minor "leaky" valve which is more common than you may think). True about heart and lung interactions ( congestive heart is notable example in people who probably do not have CF). That often results in swollen legs and shortness of breath, where pinching to tibia leaves deep impressions (pitting edema) and catching breath is common. Your murmur probably has nothing to do with CF or PFT score. If your doctor says its serious, ask for a good unrushed explanation. Serious valve disease (which you probably don't have) can be repaired with microscopic tools or a "small" heart surgery if needing replacement.