Stephen Bailey, MD — System Chair, Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery
How is heart failure diagnosed? In order for your doctor to give a congestive heart failure diagnosis, they will need to get your full medical history, review your symptoms, and complete a physical examination. Your cardiologist will also check to see if you have symptoms for advanced heart failure, including high blood pressure, diabetes, or coronary artery disease.
After your physical exam is complete, your doctor may order a series of tests to help diagnose your condition, including:
The results of these tests will help your cardiologist create a congestive heart failure treatment plan. Typically, congestive heart failure treatment involves a combination of several medications. Medications will depend on your symptoms but may include renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibitors to relax blood vessels and lower blood pressure, beta blockers (BB) to lower heart rate, mineralocorticoid antagonists (MCA) that help the kidneys maintain salt and water balance, and sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors that also work on the kidney to eliminate salt and glucose.
At the AHN Heart Failure Program, we provide ongoing care to relieve symptoms and delay disease progression. We also provide pre- and post-surgical care for people who get mechanical circulatory support devices or undergo heart surgery or a heart transplant. Learn more about heart failure diagnosis and treatments.
We are located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It’s a convenient location for patients in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, and New York looking for the best cardiologists.
The AHN Heart Failure Clinic is located within the AHN Cardiovascular Institute at:
Allegheny General Hospital
320 East North Avenue
South Tower, First Floor
Pittsburgh, PA 15212
GET DIRECTIONS
Hours: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Call (412) DOCTORS (412) 362-8677 or request an appointment with AHN cardiovascular services.
