Congestive Heart Failure

[Lois252]

I recently had an electrocardiogram, the result was congestive heart failure. It said that I have a septal wall thickness of 1.7. Is this bad?  and if so can it be reversed?

[kenkeith]

Yes, chf can be reversed depending on the underlying cause.  Congested heart failure occurs when the left ventricle's contractility is impaired and the oxygenated blood from the lungs backs up and fluids leak into the lungs (edema) and the lower extremities.

There is mediation that reduces the heart's workload, and if the underlying cause is an enlarged LV, the reduced workload helps heal the heart and increase contractility, and there are medications that increase the heart's pumping ability, etc.

[Lois252]

I am sorry, the test I took was an echo cardiogram,my mistake. This test was ordered because of edema in my ankles which had gotten worse. I am currently taking Maxzide and was off of it for four days and I gained six pounds of fluid. As I said , the results were congestive hearth failure. The septal wall thickness, which is 1.7 is a concern for me. Is it reversible.  

[kenkeith]

An electrocardiogram can not diagnose congested heart failure.  An upsloping ST wave signal from an EKG indicates a heart failure by the EKG software, but there can be other causes for the abnormal wave and a dx from the EKG requires other clinical evidence and associated sympotms.

An EKG cannot measure heart wall chamber dimensions...requires an echocardiogram.  Normal septal wall thickness is 0.6 - 1.1 cm.  It is the wall separating heart chambers and sometimes excessive thickness impedes the chamber to relax and adequately fill with oxygenated blood.

From the information you provide, it is doubtful you have congested heart failure!