End-stage heart failure is a disease in which the heart muscle is failing severely in its attempt to pump blood through the body, and in which all other available treatments are no longer helping to improve the heart's function. End-stage heart failure is the final stage of heart failure. Heart failure, also called congestive heart failure, or CHF, is a condition that occurs when the heart is unable to pump blood sufficiently. Despite its name, a diagnosis of heart failure does NOT mean the heart is about to stop beating. The term "failure" refers to the fact that the heart muscle is failing to pump blood in the normal manner because it has become weakened.
Some causes of CHF, or weakening of the heart muscle, may include, but are not limited to, the following:
- heart attack (also called myocardial infarction, or MI)
- high blood pressure (hypertension)
- valvular heart disease
- congenital (present at birth) heart conditions
- cardiac arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats)
- pulmonary hypertension (elevated blood pressure within the lungs' blood vessels)
- alcoholism or drug abuse
- chronic lung diseases, such as emphysema or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- cardiomyopathy (an enlargement of the heart muscle)
- anemia (low red blood cell count)
There may be other reasons for your physician to recommend heart transplantation.