Heart Failure
Heart failure (HF), often referred to as congestive heart failure (CHF), occurs when the heart is unable to provide enough blood pressure to perfuse all of the bodies tissues effectively. The cardiac insufficiency results in a sequalae of symptoms including shortness of breath, lethargy, and fluid accumulation in lower extremities. Renal complications are often the result of diuretics prescribed to reduce fluid accumulation.
Common causes of heart failure include coronary artery disease, a previous myocardial infarction, high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation, valvular heart disease, excess alcohol use, infection, and cardiomyopathy of an unknown cause.
Due to the complexity of heart failure there are multiple ways to measure or characterize the progression of the disease. This include echocardiography, measurement of blood pressure, central venous pressure pulmonary artery pressure, left and right ventricular pressures and measuring cardiac dimensions.
Animal models used to study heart failure include mice, rats, rabbits and dogs. Models are generated by several means, including, genetic selection, induced hypertension and electrical pacing of the heart.
DSI has solutions for capturing and analyzing bioelectrical and pressure measurements, plus hardwired solutions capable of combining telemetry with other systems such as cardiac dimension measurements.