Treatment:

To treat ischemic cardiomyopathy, your doctor will treat and manage your heart failure by:

• Showing you how to make important changes in your lifestyle
• Teaching you about the symptoms of heart failure
• Giving you medicines for heart failure
• Giving you a pacemaker to help treat a slow heart rate or help the heart beat in a more normal way
• Implanting a defibrilator, which recognizes abnormal heart rhythms and sends an electrical pulse to stop them

See also: Heart failure

A cardiac catheterization might be done to see if you need coronary artery bypass (CABG) surgery or a balloon procedure (angioplasty). These procedures can improve blood flow to the damaged or weakened heart muscle.

You may need a heart transplant if you have tried all the standard treatments and still have very severe symptoms. Implantable, artificial heart pumps are now available. However, very few patients are able to have these advanced treatments.

Expectations (prognosis):

Often, heart failure can be controlled with medicine, lifestyle changes, and by treating the disease that caused it.

Heart failure may suddenly become worse due to angina, heart attack, infections, other illnesses, eating foods that high in salt, and not taking medicines correctly.

Heart failure is usually a long-term (chronic) illness. It may get worse over time.

Some people develop severe heart failure. Medicines, surgery, and other treatments no longer help. They are at risk for dangerous heart rhythm problems.

Calling your health care provider:

Go to the emergency room or call 911 if:

• You have symptoms of ischemic cardiomyopathy
• You have chest pain that is not relieved by rest or nitroglycerin
• You pass out (syncope)