What is YOUR EF?

I wanted to talk about an important number for anyone to know, even those with a healthy heart. Still, most people have no idea what their EF is or even what it means. Everyone should know this number!

When I was first diagnosed, my heart function was only 5%. My cardiologist actually told my family for me, that meant my heart was functioning at 1/16th. They were told I could die at any moment unless they could get this number up. So what is an EF and how is it tested?

Ejection fraction is a test that determines how well your heart pumps with each beat.

Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is the measurement of how much blood is being pumped out of the left ventricle of the heart (the main pumping chamber) with each contraction.

Right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF) is the measurement of how much blood is being pumped out of the right side of the heart to the lungs for oxygen.

For people with heart failure, your EF number will be your left ventricular ejection fraction. This is where most people have a problem. I don't think my doctor has ever told me what my right vntricular ejection fracion is.

Ejection fraction is expressed as a percentage. No one's heart pumps 100%. There is always some blood that stays behind. A normal range would be 50%-70%. With my last echo, my range is 20%, which means I basically have 1/3 of my heart function. My doctor is currently working on trying to get this up to 30% but for some reason, my heart function just doesn't seem to go any higher than 20%. A MUGA scan actually states my heart function to be 16%. Right now, Dr. Abraham has increased my Coreg more in hopes to bring up this number. The Coreg, however, lowers my blood pressure so that I don't think I'll be able to take much more. Last night my BP at one point was only 88/48! So, as you can see, I don't have room for it to drop much more. Right now my current dose is 37.5 mg twice a day. This is higher than most as the optimal dose is 25mg twice a day. Since my heart function did not increase with that, we are trying a bit more.

36%-49% is considered below normal
35%-40% may confirm a diagnosis of systolic heart failure
below 35%-increases risks of a life threatening irregular heart rhythm. That is why I have a defibrillator!

Your EF can go up and down based on your heart condition and therapies prescribed. We had also hoped the bi-ventricular pacemaker would improve my heart function but after 4 1/2 years with one, it has not. I'm not giving up hope though! I've heard of it happening just all of a sudden in people and I believe in miracles so I still have hope!

Having testing done to measure your EF is painless. These tests can be done in the doctors office. Here are some typical tests that are done to measure EF.

**Ultrasound of heart (echocardiography). Used most often.
**Cardiac Catherization-for this one it means an overnight stay in the hospital.
**MRI of the heart
**Nuclear medican scan (MUGA)
**CT scan of the heart.

For anyone with heart failure, this is an important number to know. I also believe healthy individuals should know this number and I really recommend that everyone have either an echo or a ct scan of the heart. My brother just recently had one due to some cholesterol issues. His test came out great so it was a relief to him. I think it's better to know about a problem and face it head on than to wait until your heart is in trouble or damaged to try and fix a problem. The new heart scan they are doing now costs at $99.00 and it quick and painless. Money well spent!