Visit a handful of leading Heart Failure websites, and you will discover different ways of categorizing types of Heart Failure. This is because there are a variety of factors to consider when describing and diagnosing any given patient’s HF. Each factor is critical to your medical team, as defining the type and cause of Heart Failure will determine your individual course of treatment.
 

For example, Acute Heart Failure may develop suddenly and be instantly severe—perhaps following sudden heart damage due to heart attack—but it might only last briefly and quickly improve, typically with intravenous medicine. On the other hand, Acute Heart Failure may also result from your body’s inability to function with Chronic Heart Failure, in which symptoms appear gradually, and worsen over time—most often, due to another medical problem (see Risk Factors and Causes, above). 

 

Before walking through the different types of Heart Failure, it’s important to understand ejection fraction.

Ejection Fraction is the amount of blood, measured as a percentage, your heart pumps out with each heartbeat or contraction.

• Normal EF typically ranges between 50-70%.

• Borderline EF of 41-49% may indicate damage (i.e. past heart attack) or developing heart failure.

• Low EF, at 40% or below, may indicate HF or other heart muscle disease (cardiomyopathy).

• High EF above 75% may be evidence of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM).

 

LEFT-SIDED HEART FAILURE (LV Heart Failure)
Left Ventricular Heart Failure, or Left-Sided Heart Failure, is the most common type of Heart Failure, and occurs when your left ventricle (the left side of your heart) cannot pump sufficient blood throughout your body. This results in a backup of blood in your pulmonary veins—the blood vessels carrying blood away from the lungs—and leads to shortness of breath, coughing, and breathing difficulty (particularly during exertion).

 

The two main subsets of Left-Sided Heart Failure are referred to by a variety of different terminology:

 

• SYSTOLIC HEART FAILURE
  AKA Heart Failure with Reduced Left Ventricular Function
  AKA Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction (HF-rEF)
  When you have Systolic Heart Failure or HF-rEF, your left ventricle cannot efficiently pump blood due to an inability to contract with enough force. (Your heart contracts, or squeezes, during the systolic phase of your heartbeat.)

 

• DIASTOLIC HEART FAILURE
  AKA Diastolic Dysfunction  
  AKA Heart Failure with Preserved Left Ventricular Function (HF-pEF)
  Diastolic Heart Failure patients, or those with HF-pEF, have normal ejection fraction, but a stiffened left heart muscle that has lost its ability to relax normally, resulting in a subsequent inability to fill with blood between each heartbeat. (Your heart widens and relaxes during the diastolic phase of your heartbeat.)

 

RIGHT-SIDED HEART FAILURE (RV Heart Failure)

Typically caused by Left-Sided Heart Failure, Right-Sided Heart Failure occurs when the right ventricle is too weak to pump blood to the lungs. This results in a backup of blood and increased pressure in your veins, forcing fluid from the veins into surrounding tissue, usually causing congestion (swelling) in the legs, ankles, abdomen, organs, neck veins, or genital area. Right-Sided Heart Failure may also be caused by damage to the heart muscle, valves, or elevated lung pressure.

 

BIVENTRICULAR HEART FAILURE

When Heart Failure affects both sides of the heart, it is considered Biventricular Heart Failure, and can result in the symptoms of both Left- and Right-Sided Heart Failure.

CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE

Though Congestive Heart Failure has historically been used interchangeably with Heart Failure, today the American Heart Association defines Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) as a specific type of HF requiring urgent medical attention, in which blood flow from the heart slows down, leading to a backup in blood returning to the heart, causing subsequent swelling (AKA congestion, or edema) in surrounding body tissues—especially the legs and ankles.

As a result of CHF, pulmonary edema may develop—a build-up of fluid in the lungs, which can interfere with breathing, most noticeably at night. CHF can also reduce the kidneys’ functionality, preventing their ability to rid the body of water and sodium, which in turn worsens bodily swelling.