Relevance and treatment of heart failure’s injuries to skeletal musculature

Abstract

Heart failure patients, the final pathway of the cardiovascular diseases and the first cause of admission in hospital in Brazil, present skeletal musculature injuries. Furthermore, the damages in this musculature have direct relationship with the quality of life and the autonomy of the patients, by the physical exercise tolerance, and are an independent predictor of mortality in the syndrome. During this review will be discussed about heart failure: its concept and a brief history; the importance of the skeletal musculature; the functional, structural, biochemical and molecular injuries that undergoes this tissue; the main causes of these damages (sympathetic hyperactivity, decreased food intake, reactive oxygen species, inflammatory cytokines and reduced physical activity level and blood flow); and the effects of the principal therapy to prevent this dysfunction, the moderated intensity aerobic physical training. If we agree about the importance of the skeletal muscle tissue in the syndrome, this is an area of scientific investigation with many subjects still not studied, like the effect of: pharmacological therapies used by the patients, high intensity aerobic physical exercises, strength physical exercises, nutritional interventions and cellular and genetic therapies. In the future, the results of these studies that will be developed certainly will contribute to less degeneration of the skeletal musculature in the disease, what, consequently, will improve the quality of life, the autonomy and the prognosis of the patients.