Types of Heart Failure

The main types of heart failure are named for where they occur in the heart:

Left-sided heart failure
Right-sided heart failure
Biventricular heart failure (both sides)
Clinicians also may classify heart failure as:

Acute: You have active symptoms of heart failure, with either a new diagnosis or with long-term (chronic) heart failure.Chronic heart failure develops over time from medical conditions such as long-term hypertension (high blood pressure) or coronary artery disease.Left-sided heart failure can be classified further as heart failure with reduced or preserved ejection fraction:

In heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (sometimes called diastolic heart failure), the left ventricle can't relax normally.As a result, the heart can't fill with blood between beats and things back up.
In heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (or systolic heart failure), the left ventricle can't contract (squeeze) normally, so less blood gets into circulation.Congestive heart failure involves fluid backing up into the body's tissues to the point that the tissues get congested and patients have symptoms.Ejection fraction is the percentage of blood the left ventricle of the heart pumps out with every beat.This can push fluid out of the veins and into other tissue, often leading to swelling.