• J. Card. Fail. · Sep 1996

    Review

    Pathophysiologic and therapeutic implications of sleep apnea in congestive heart failure.

    • T D Bradley and J S Floras.
    • Department of Medicine of the Toronto Hospital, Ontario, Canada.
    • J. Card. Fail. 1996 Sep 1; 2 (3): 223-40.

    AbstractObstructive and central sleep apnea are common in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). These sleep-related breathing disorders are characterized by two pathophysiologic features that could have important implications for disease progression in CHF: sympathetic nervous system activation, and adverse changes in cardiac loading conditions. In patients with obstructive sleep apnea, blood pressure is frequently elevated as a result of excessive sympathetic nervous system activity elicited by the combination of apnea, hypoxia, and arousals from sleep. The generation of exaggerated negative intrathoracic pressure during obstructive apneas further increases left ventricular afterload, reduces cardiac output, and may promote the progression of pump failure. Increased afterload and hypoxia can also predispose such patients to myocardial ischemia and arrhythmias. In patients with CHF, abolition of coexisting obstructive sleep apnea by nasal continuous positive airway pressure improves left ventricular function. Central sleep apnea (i.e., Cheyne-Stokes respiration) is also characterized by apnea, hypoxia, and increased sympathetic nervous system activity and, when present in CHF, is associated with increased risk of death. Recent medium-term trials involving small numbers of patients have demonstrated that nocturnally applied continuous positive airway pressure in patients with CHF and central sleep apnea alleviates central sleep apnea, improves left ventricular function, reduces sympathetic nervous system activity and improves symptoms of CHF. These studies emphasize the importance of considering obstructive and central sleep apnea in the differential diagnosis of conditions that could contribute to the development or progression of CHF. They also suggest that continuous positive airway pressure is a promising nonpharmacologic adjunctive therapy for patients with CHF and coexisting sleep-related breathing disturbances that warrants further investigation.

      Pubmed     Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…

What will the 'Medical Journal of You' look like?

Start your free 21 day trial now.

We guarantee your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.