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By Mayo Clinic staffHeart failure typically develops slowly and is a chronic, long-term condition, although you may experience a sudden onset of symptoms, known as acute heart failure. The term "congestive heart failure" comes from blood backing up into — or congesting — the liver, abdomen, lower extremities and lungs.
Some of the signs and symptoms for chronic and acute heart failure are:
| Type of heart failure | Signs and symptoms |
|---|---|
|
Chronic heart failure |
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Acute heart failure |
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In addition to characterizing whether your condition is chronic or acute, your doctor will need to know whether your heart fails to pump, or fills with blood, or a combination of both. Heart failure can involve the left side, right side or both sides of your heart. Typically, heart failure begins with the left side — specifically the left ventricle, your heart's main pumping chamber.
| Part of your heart affected by heart failure | Description |
|---|---|
| Left-sided heart failure |
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| Right-sided heart failure |
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| Systolic heart failure |
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Diastolic heart failure |
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While systolic heart failure was once thought to be more common and less serious, recent studies have shown this to be incorrect. Isolated diastolic heart failure, now also termed "heart failure with normal ejection fraction," is just as common as systolic heart failure and has a similar prognosis. Identifying the type of heart failure, whether systolic, diastolic, or a combination, is important because the drug treatments for each type may differ.