Is this serious?

My dad has been in denial about his heart condition.  He has lost 50 lbs in 2 months, and has swelling in his legs along with low blood pressure. He has 2 tias a year ago and has been diagnoised with congestive heart failure.  He has been getting worse not better.  I think the doctors should do a cath to see what is going on.  He had an EKG 3 days ago and it was Abnormal. He came home instead of going to the hospital. His B-Type NAT PEP was 1048... Extremely HIGH!  Please review his Echo and tell me if I need to get him to new doctors.

[erijon]

Overall, he does have some issues. Most importantly is the fact that his ejection fraction is down to  305 - 35%. This is the amount of blood pumped out of the left ventricle with each beat and is an indicator of the strength of his heart. The poor EF% is most likely due to the dilation of the left and right ventricle along with the left atrium although a dilation of the left atrium does not normally cause a drop in EF%. In addition, he has left ventricular hypertrophy which means the walls of his left ventricle are becoming thicker due to an increased work load on his heart which means his heart is working harder than it should. This is usually caused by high blood pressure.

If his doctors can determine the reason for the dilation and hypertrophy, his heart can remodel it's self back to normal and become stronger, but he needs to become proactive and find out what is wrong and take steps to improve his condition. I don't think a cath would do much good as they are used to find blockages in the arteries and that does not cause what seems to be his issues. He definitely needs further evaluation.

Hope this helps,

Jon

[vkeen]

Thanks for the information... So maybe the doctors are doing the right thing.  They put him on Lasix and digoxin. he still has swelling in his legs which concerns me.  His right leg more than the left. Thanks again and I will try to help him overcome his anxiety about going to the doctors. He WILL NOT stay at the hospital and signs his self out.

[vkeen]

Well, just wanted to post an update.  My father past away 2 months ago from his heart stopping.  I also found out that he shouldn't have been on lasik because he also had renal failure.  I wish I could have done more.
Thanks for all the information and help provided.