Heart Failure
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If you or a loved one has received a heart failure diagnosis, you might feel worried and overwhelmed. Heart failure is a serious diagnosis. At UVA Health, you have options.
Heart Failure Care Without the Hassle of Travel
We can work with healthcare providers near you if traveling to UVA is inconvenient. You can schedule lab work, sleep studies, and echocardiograms closer to home.
If you have a device implant, you can see the device team the same day you see the heart failure team. That means fewer trips for appointments.
And if you need to be in the hospital, we have a unit with dedicated heart failure nurses.
Full Range of Heart Failure Care
Our heart failure program offers a full range of treatment options:
Medications
Device therapy (pacemakers, ICDs, LVAD, and ECMO)
Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs)
Treating Heart Failure With Implanted Devices
Implanted Defibrillators
Implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICD) are small, battery-powered devices. They generate electrical impulses and keep both ventricles of your heart working together.
High-Tech Pacemakers
Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy uses a special pacemaker to synch the left and right ventricles. Sometimes we combine this with an implantable cardiac defibrillator.
Mechanical-Assist Devices
A number of pumps can help your heart manage blood flow. These include:
An intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP)
Temporary pumps that stabilize your heart in the hospital
Ventricular assist devices (VADs)
The Heart Transplant Alternative
Ventricle assist devices, or VADs, improve your health, reduce symptoms, and give you more energy. At UVA, you’ll find a program that has earned special designation for providing VAD therapy.
Some people with end-stage heart failure can’t get a heart transplant. They’re just too sick. If this describes you, don’t lose hope. You may qualify for “destination therapy VADs.” This mechanical heart device keeps your heart moving, so you can, too.
Heart Monitor to Prevent Problems: CardioMEMS
CardioMEMS measures the pressure in your heart. This small, wireless sensor can send info to your doctor. That alerts us to any issues before they become problems. You'll avoid hospital visits and rest easy as you live your life.
Heart Failure Treatment at UVA Health
James Bergin, MD, discusses heart failure and the treatments available at UVA Health.
The majority of heart failure patients experience fatigue and shortness of breath. They may also develop other signs or symptoms such as bloating in the abdomen or swelling in the feet. They may also have troubles such as filling up quickly when they start to eat. That's called early satiety.
All of those would speak to congestion of the abdominal organs. What we commonly see are patients who think they're fine. They're just coughing, they're a little bit more short of breath. They think that they have a pneumonia or something. They see a physician. They put them on antibiotics, and it just doesn't clear.
And then eventually, someone ends up doing some sort of heart study like an Echo or something, and that's when they determine that all along, the whole cause of this has been not the lungs, but it's the heart. So the first things we like to cover in treatment options would be to instruct the patients as far as salt and fluid intake. Because that can have a big impact.
The next treatment option usually is trying to control the amount of fluid in the system and such using a diuretic. So a fluid pill to get rid of extra fluid. And then putting them on therapies to make it easier for the heart to eject the blood. So these are all the standard medical regimens that we use. The next step up is, if someone's having continued symptoms despite all of those therapies, then we start talking about heart pumps.
So assist pumps. And these are usually durable pumps that people-- you would put in with surgery, and they would be up walking around and living long term with. I think people should come to UVA because we have the unique ability to really provide all aspects of care. Once you step in, we're able to cover it all.
You don't have to go next door to some other clinic. You don't have to go down the street to a different hospital or see other physicians. We can really offer everything right here. So it's the cardiologist, the cardiovascular surgeons. It's the lung doctors who are involved with the care compliment us in clinic. We have the GI doctors, the blood doctors.
Everyone is right here at all phases. We offer transplantation of all organs. So very few hospitals in the region, in the area, or in the United States are able to offer all levels of care at all sites.
Blog Heart Failure Tag
06/04/2025
Anorexia & Your Heart: Early Warning Signs
When you don't eat enough, it hurts your whole body, including your heart. Do you know the anorexia heart failure signs?
11/26/2024
7 Quick Questions With Heart Surgeon Jared Beller
Learn everything from the best part of his job to his biggest fear as a patient.
02/23/2023
Getting to the Heart: Highlights of Recent Heart Disease Research
Learn what recent research reveals about new avenues for treatments to prevent and treat heart disease and heart failure.
02/16/2023
Can Heart Failure Be Reversed?
There's no cure for heart failure. But with an early diagnosis, you better your chances. You can reverse heart failure symptoms; see your next steps now.
02/27/2020
Evelyn & Frank: From Signs of Heart Failure to a Remarkable Recovery
Evelyn Walton's first signs of heart failure were noticed immediately. Her tough spirit, combined with UVA's expert care team, led to a remarkable recovery.
09/08/2015
Better Heart Failure and Cancer Palliative Care (Podcast Tuesday)
People tend to confuse palliative care with end-of-life/hospice care. But palliative care is about symptom and pain management. Palliative care helps cancer and heart failure patients manage pain. Even after cancer is in remission, you could still have pain, nerve damage, fatigue and mood problems.
05/24/2011
Heart Failure: Are You At Risk?
Tony was only 53. But he was often short of breath and too tired to play with his kids or enjoy golf. We often think heart failure only happens to older people, but younger adults like Tony with other (sometimes undiagnosed) heart conditions or other risk factors can also develop it. According to the American […]