Definition, Diagnosis, Epidemiology, Etiology and Pathophysiology of Heart Failure

Abstract

Heart failure (HF) is the culmination of all preceding cardiovascular events and the successes and failures of attempted and administered interventions. It is the cumulative effects of all abnormalities in the heart, which culminate in the functional impairment of the cardiac pump. Once the patient reaches the stage of symptomatic HF, the prognosis becomes poor. The more severe the HF, the nearer the patient is to death, and therefore the less room for mistakes in managing these patients. For these reasons, attention to details such as accuracy of diagnoses, correct assessments of severity, profound understanding of the pathophysiological processes and institution of timely therapy are crucial, and it calls for no less than the most skilled of HF specialists if the patients were to stand any chance of successfully fighting against this lethal condition. This chapter intends to lay the foundations for rational approaches to therapy.