Heart failure is a serious medical condition in which the heart is failing as a pump and cannot provide sufficient blood supply to the body. The heart can therefore no longer deliver enough oxygen to meet the metabolic demands of the organism. The most common cause of heart failure is heart attack due to coronary artery disease and dilated cardiomyopathy (enlarged and weakly pumping heart muscle with normal coronary arteries).

Heart failure can affect people of any age, but it is most common in the elderly. More than 5% of individuals aged 60-69 are suffering from some stage of heart failure, and in those over 65, it is the leading cause of hospitalisation. Heart failure is slightly more frequent in men than in women, mainly due to the differences in the prevalence of coronary artery disease. Survival rates depend on the severity of the heart impairment, age, general health and the treatment.

Plenty of treatment options for heart failure are available today. Medication combined with dietary and lifestyle changes gives good results in the early stages of the disease. Some of the drugs useful in heart failure are ACE inhibitors, ARBs (angiotensin receptor blockers), beta-blockers, aldosterone antagonists, ivabradine, diuretics and digoxin.

Sometimes, surgical procedures are required. CABG (coronary artery bypass grafting) can improve cardiac contractility by providing a better blood supply to the heart muscle. Valve surgery (valve repair or valve replacement) can help offload the heart and improve its pumping function. Patients with dyssynchronous cardiac contraction with LBBB (left bundle branch block on ECG) benefit from biventricular pacemakers, which may be combined with ICD (i.e. cardiac resynchronisation therapy with or without defibrillator, CRT-D or CRT-P. One of the newest treatment options is the implantation of LVAD (Left Ventricular Assist Device) or TAH (total artificial heart), which takes over some pumping burden for the failing heart. The ultimate resort in some patients may need to be a heart transplant, which is however often not available immediately due to the lack of suitable donors.