The Guidelines offer up to date practical recommendations on the diagnosis, assessment and treatment of Chronic Heart Failure and have been specifically formulated for use in clinical practice, as well as in epidemiological surveys and clinical trials, featuring a new chapter on the diagnosis of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (diastolic heart failure).
Professor Kenneth Dickstein, of Stavanger University Hospital, Norway, member of the Committee for Practice Guidelines of the ESC and President-Elect of the Heart Failure Association of the ESC, outlines the highlights of the Chronic Heart Failure Guidelines and the most notable additions since their initial edition in 20012.
"These updated Guidelines have been exceptionally well formulated and presented. Any update is usually better than the original, but these Guidelines are not only better in terms of scientific content but also in terms of its presentation. They have been made more user-friendly and tailored to the needs of practising physicians.
"Avoiding broad or sweeping generalisations, these Guidelines are truly realistic and clinically relevant to the real world and, most specifically, European populations. They are not in conflict with the previous Chronic Heart Failure Guidelines of the ESC, but are an updated and improved version of the former.
"Since the last Guidelines on Chronic Heart Failure were issued in 2001, there have been substantial developments in the area of Heart Failure overall. The whole approach has also become more multidisciplinary. We are increasingly seeing a trend towards hospital-based Heart Failure Management Programmes and recogni
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Contact: Camilla Dormer or Gina Dellios
cdormer@escardio.org
33-492-948-627
European Society of Cardiology
19-May-2005