What is the Difference Between Congestive Heart Failure and Congenital Heart Disease

The key difference between congestive heart failure and congenital heart disease is that congestive heart failure is a medical condition in the heart caused due to old age, while congenital heart disease is a medical condition in the heart caused due to birth defects.

Congestive heart failure and congenital heart disease are two types of heart conditions affecting the heart. There are many different heart conditions. Normally, heart conditions affect the heart’s ability to work efficiently.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Congestive Heart Failure 
3. What is Congenital Heart Disease
4. Similarities – Congestive Heart Failure and Congenital Heart Disease
5. Congestive Heart Failure vs Congenital Heart Disease in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Congestive Heart Failure vs Congenital Heart Disease

What is Congestive Heart Failure?

Congestive heart failure is a medical condition caused due to old age. This is a heart condition in which the heart is not able to handle the blood volume. Ultimately, this causes an accumulation of blood in other parts of the body, most commonly in the lungs and lower extremities such as feet and legs. The symptoms of this heart condition may include shortness of breath, fatigue, swelling in ankles, legs, and abdomen, weight gain, frequent urination, irregular heartbeats, dry cough, bloated stomach, loss of appetite, and nausea. Moreover, congestive heart failure can lead to complications such as irregular heartbeat, sudden cardiac arrest, heart valve problem, collection of fluid in lungs, pulmonary hypertension, kidney damage, liver damage, and malnutrition.

Congestive heart failure is a chronic condition, and it gets worse with time. There are four stages in congestive heart failure: A, B, C, D. Stage A and B are pre heart failure stages, while C and D are heart failure stages. Congestive heart failure is very common in old age.

The other medical conditions and risk factors that trigger congestive heart failure include coronary artery disease, heart attack, cardiomyopathy, diabetes, arrhythmia, kidney disease, obesity, tobacco and recreational drug usage, and medications. Congestive heart failure can be diagnosed through blood tests, BNP blood tests, cardiac catheterization, chest X-ray, echocardiogram, MRI, electrocardiogram, MUGA scan, and stress test. Furthermore, treatments options for congestive heart failure are exercises, medications such as angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACE-1), beta-blockers, aldosterone antagonist, hydralazine/nitrate, usage of diuretics, cardiac resynchronization therapy, implantable cardiac defibrillator therapy,  heart transplant, ventricular assist devices, heart surgery, continuous infusion of intravenous inotropic drugs, palliative care, and research therapies.

What is Congenital Heart Disease?

Congenital heart disease is a medical condition in the heart caused due to birth defects. It is the most common type of birth defect, affecting 1 in 100 babies in the UK. Some conditions are known to increase the risk of congenital heart disease. These include down syndrome, mother having certain infections (rubella), the mother taking certain medications (statins), mother smoking or drinking alcohol, mother having type 1 and 2 diabetes, and inherited chromosome defects.

The signs and symptoms of this condition may include rapid heartbeat, rapid breathing, swelling of the legs, extreme tiredness, a blue tinge to the skin or lips. Moreover, there are different types of congenital heart disease. The common types include septal defects, coarctation of the aorta, pulmonary valve stenosis, transposition of great arteries, and underdeveloped heart. This condition can be diagnosed through electrocardiogram, chest X-ray, pulse oximetry, echocardiogram, transesophageal echocardiogram, cardiac CT scan, or MRI and cardiac catheterization. Furthermore, the treatment options may include exercises, medicines such as diuretics, digoxin, ibuprofen, surgeries, and other procedures like balloon valvuloplasty, valvotomy, implantable heart devices, catheter-based treatments, open-heart surgery, and heart transplant.

What are the Similarities Between Congestive Heart Failure and Congenital Heart Disease?

• Congestive heart failure and congenital heart disease are two types of heart conditions.
• Both medical conditions reduce the heart’s ability to handle the blood volume.
• These medical conditions can be seen in adults.
• They are treatable through medications and surgeries such as heart transplants.

What is the Difference Between Congestive Heart Failure and Congenital Heart Disease?

Congestive heart failure is a medical condition in the heart caused due to old age, while congenital heart disease is a medical condition in the heart caused due to birth defects. Thus, this is the key difference between congestive heart failure and congenital heart disease. Furthermore, congestive heart failure is mainly seen in adults, while congenital heart disease is seen in both children and adults.

The below infographic presents the differences between congestive heart failure and congenital heart disease in tabular form for side by side comparison.

Summary – Congestive Heart Failure vs Congenital Heart Disease

Congestive heart failure and congenital heart disease are two types of heart conditions that can affect both adults and children. Congestive heart failure is mainly due to old age and other medical conditions, while congenital heart disease is mainly due to birth defects. So, this is the key difference between congestive heart failure and congenital heart disease.

Reference:

1. “Congestive Heart Failure: Prevention, Treatment and Research.” Johns Hopkins Medicine.
2. “Diagnosis-Congenital heart disease.” NHS Choices, NHS.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Right side heart failure” By Scientific Animations (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Ventricular septal defect-en” By Manco Capac – Own work (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia