Summary: We turned our attention to chronic congestive heart failure (CHF) and reviewed "The 2012 Canadian Cardiovascular Society Heart Failure Management Guidelines Update". National Institute of Health provided a great summary on CHF for patients and the public: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/hf/ For a basic anatomy review of the circulatory system: For another diagram showing the heart in relation to the body, click here. And an over-simplification of the pathophysiology of left vs right heart failure is that when the left ventricle fails, not enough oxygenated blood gets pumps to the body to meet its demand. Instead, blood gets backed up into the lungs and cause fluid buildup in the lungs. This pressure can further back up into the right heart, such that the right ventricle and right atrium cannot accommodate a normal amount of venous return, and fluid can accumulate in the body to cause edema. Wikipedia strikes a good balance of depth and readability on this topic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_failure The CCS guideline suggests the following investigations for CHF: CXR, echocardiography, BNP, labs (CBC, electrolytes, creatinine, urinalysis, glucose, thyroid function), and further testing (nuclear imaging, catheterization, stress test, MRI, CT, endomyocardial biopsy) if appropriate. The CCS guideline on treatment of chronic CHF: ACE inhibitors for: all symptomatic HF patients and EF 55 with HF symptoms on treatment and recent hospitalization for CV disease in the past 6 months (or if QRS duration > 130ms and EF
