Congestive Heart Failure Center

Expert Care for All Heart Failure Stages

The term “heart failure” can be misleading. It doesn’t mean your heart has stopped working; instead, it means your heart no longer pumps as well as it should. Some people develop heart failure suddenly, after a major heart attack. Others develop it gradually — it can take years for your heart to weaken enough to notice symptoms.

Heart Failure Symptoms

Early symptoms of heart failure are often mild, but without treatment they will worsen over time. See your doctor right away if you develop:

• Swollen feet or ankles
• Unexplained weight gain
• A dry, hacking cough
• Unusual shortness of breath
• Rapid or irregular heartbeat
• Weakness or fatigue after simple exertion

No matter what’s causing your heart failure, or how severe your symptoms, our team can help. We offer ongoing treatment and follow-up care for patients whose symptoms are manageable. And we offer surgery and other treatments for people who need lifesaving care for sudden or advanced heart failure.

Congestive Heart Failure Treatment

Your heart failure treatment plan will depend on several factors. These include the frequency and severity of your symptoms, and what’s causing them. For example, if your heart is weakened by a faulty valve, fixing the valve may stop heart failure from getting worse.

Routine Heart Failure Care

Early or mild heart failure symptoms can often be managed with nonsurgical treatments, including:

• Lifestyle changes. Quitting smoking, eating better and exercising more can greatly improve your heart failure symptoms. We’ll help you create new habits you can stick with, or refer you to providers who specialize in these areas.
• Heart failure medications. Many people with heart failure take prescription drugs such as beta blockers, ACE inhibitors, ARBs, ARNIs, vasodilators and diuretics. These medications help relax or widen blood vessels, lower blood pressure or reduce swelling caused by fluid build-up.
• Cardiac rehabilitation. Licensed rehabilitation professionals can help you strengthen your heart through supervised exercise programs and tailored dietary changes.
• Ongoing follow-up visits. Regular visits to our multispecialty congestive heart failure clinic help us keep an eye on your condition — and keep you and your heart healthy.

If your therapies stop working, or your heart function suddenly and significantly declines, you may need surgery or other specialized treatments.

Advanced Heart Failure Care

For patients with moderate or advanced heart failure, we aim to improve quality of life while preventing emergency room visits and hospital admissions. In coordination with local providers, we offer temporary and long-term care for people with mechanical circulatory support devices. These devices, also known as heart pumps, help weak hearts keep working. We also offer innovative devices that let us monitor your heart function remotely. Our advanced services include:

• Ventricular assist device (VAD) management. These devices are implanted in the lower chambers of the heart (ventricles), where they help pump blood to the rest of the body. Because the most common type of heart failure is left-sided heart failure, most patients who need a heart pump receive a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). We work closely with several cardiac transplant centers to coordinate care for local patients who have an LVAD.
• Impella pumps. These temporary devices help keep blood circulating while patients with heart failure undergo cardiac catheterization. In some cases, Impella pumps are used to support heart function in patients who develop a life-threatening condition called cardiogenic shock.
• Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Blood is pumped from your body into a machine, where it is mixed with oxygen and then pumped back into your body. The machine takes over for your heart and lungs, allowing them to rest.
• Remote monitoring. We offer small, implantable devices including CardioMEMS and thoracic impedance monitors. These devices detect changes in your pulmonary artery pressure or fluid build-up in your lungs — both signs of worsening heart failure — and notify your cardiologist’s office.

ECMO and VADs are sometimes used as bridge-to-transplant therapy. This means they help your heart function while you wait for a heart transplant. VADs are also used as destination therapy, meaning they help your heart function for the rest of your life.

A Team Approach to Treatment

Heart failure is often a complication of other medical problems, including:

• Coronary artery disease
• Heart valve problems
• High blood pressure
• Obesity
• Thyroid disorders
• Type 2 diabetes

We work closely with other Centra specialists who can help treat your underlying condition — and reduce or reverse your heart failure symptoms. They include:

• Electrophysiologists who perform cardiac resynchronization therapy or placement of traditional pacemakers and defibrillators
• Endocrinologists who treat people with diabetes or thyroid problems
• Heart surgeons who perform surgical treatments such as coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG)
• Interventional cardiologists who perform nonsurgical procedures including angioplasty and stenting
• Valve and structural heart disease experts who help repair or replace faulty heart valves
• Bariatric (weight loss) surgeons or nonsurgical weight loss specialists

Together we’ll help keep your heart as healthy as possible.

Why Choose Centra for Heart Failure Care?

If you need life-changing or lifesaving treatment for heart failure, you’ll find it right here in central Virginia. Our heart failure team has a reputation for excellence because:

• We’re recognized for exceptional care. We’ve earned Advanced Heart Failure Certification from the Joint Commission. This distinction confirms we meet or exceed rigorous standards of care for people with heart failure. It also recognizes our ability to provide the full spectrum of heart failure care, including hospital, outpatient and follow-up care.
• We keep patients healthy and out of the hospital. Less than 2% of our heart failure patients who are discharged from the hospital are readmitted within 30 days. This is less than half the national average.
• We’re equipped to treat the most serious cases of heart failure. Some patients who suffer a massive heart attack experience an additional life-threatening condition called cardiogenic shock. Cardiovascular function rapidly deteriorates, and the heart suddenly can’t pump enough blood. We’re home to a cardiogenic shock team comprised of cardiologists, intensive care doctors and specially trained nurses who have experience stabilizing these patients with Impella pumps or ECMO therapy.