Left-sided heart failure can lead to which complication?

Left-sided heart failure can lead to which complication?

• A. Pulmonary edema
• B. Kehr's sign
• C. Grey Turner's sign
• D. Cor pulmonale

Answer: (A)

When the left ventricle struggles to pump, blood backs up into the left atrium and then into the pulmonary veins, raising the hydrostatic pressure in the pulmonary capillaries. That increased pressure drives fluid out of the capillaries into the lung interstitium and then into the alveolar spaces, causing pulmonary edema. This cardiogenic edema reduces gas exchange and leads to shortness of breath, crackles on exam, orthopnea, and possible hypoxemia. Kehr's sign is left shoulder pain from diaphragmatic irritation, not a heart-related issue. Grey Turner's sign is flank bruising from retroperitoneal bleeding, also not related to heart failure. Cor pulmonale refers to right-sided heart failure due to chronic lung disease and pulmonary hypertension; while severe or long-standing left-sided failure can contribute to overall heart strain, the direct and classic complication of left-sided heart failure is pulmonary edema.

When the left ventricle struggles to pump, blood backs up into the left atrium and then into the pulmonary veins, raising the hydrostatic pressure in the pulmonary capillaries. That increased pressure drives fluid out of the capillaries into the lung interstitium and then into the alveolar spaces, causing pulmonary edema. This cardiogenic edema reduces gas exchange and leads to shortness of breath, crackles on exam, orthopnea, and possible hypoxemia.

Kehr's sign is left shoulder pain from diaphragmatic irritation, not a heart-related issue. Grey Turner's sign is flank bruising from retroperitoneal bleeding, also not related to heart failure. Cor pulmonale refers to right-sided heart failure due to chronic lung disease and pulmonary hypertension; while severe or long-standing left-sided failure can contribute to overall heart strain, the direct and classic complication of left-sided heart failure is pulmonary edema.