What causes the ejection fraction in the heart to be lowered?

Question

hi, an older relative of mine has just been told they have a lowered ejection fraction. i know that this means the blood from the heart is not pumped out as efficiently. But what happens to the heart to cause this? all the information i can find just says trauma to the heart or a problem with the heart....but what is it? death of the tissure or....? any help is greatly appreciated. thank you

Answer 1

In layman's terms....the larger the left ventricle (lower left chamber of your heart) gets, the less work it is able to do. This particular chamber in the heart is the one responsible for pumping the blood into the blood vessels that circulate throughout the body.
This usually caused either by a heart attack in which the cells in the left ventricle are injured or by congestive heart failure. I hope that answers the question.
P.S. - I am an EMT and Basic Life Support instructor. I understand the importance of putting medical explanations in a format that most people can understand. Explanations using all medical terminology is just a way for most people to show off...but it also distances medical professionals from their patients.

Answer 2

Ejection fraction = (diastolic volume-systolic volume) x 100 divided by diastolic volume.
Normal value =70%
Damage to the muscle of the heart (myocardium), such as that sustained during myocardial infarction or in cardiomyopathy, impairs the heart's ability to eject blood and therefore reduces ejection fraction. This reduction in the ejection fraction can manifest itself clinically as heart failure. The ejection fraction is one of the most important predictors of prognosis; those with significantly reduced ejection fractions typically have a poorer prognoses.

Answer 3

The ejection fraction in short we call E.F is the M mode study of echocardigraphy. The normal is >55%. Less than 40% is trouble shooting and occurs if the patient has dammage to left ventricular muscle either by acute or post myocardial infraction, or due to left heart failure or due to left ventricular muscle dyskinesia or akinesia of what ever etiology. Outflow obstruction as in hypetrophy of heart may be concentratic or dialatd hypertrophy or Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy may also cause lowering of Left ventricular EF

Answer 4

Besides the other answers IIRC decreased EF can ALSO be caused by valvular regurgitation even with a normal heart muscle.

The important thing to know is that THOUSANDS of people are living with this problem not just for months or years, but for decades. It really depends on the exact cause and the degree of severity of the heart failure, but a four pronged attack including a combination of diuretics, afterload reduction, and digitalis along with Coumidin therapy to prevent clots is usually effective.