Abstract
Chronic heart failure is a complex clinical syndrome affecting subjects with different cardiovascular diseases. The patients with ischemic heart disease, hypertension and diabetes mellitus are at the highest risk of the development of heart failure.
The increase of the heart failure prevalence is caused either by aging of the population, or the improvement of the medical care of the subjects at risk. Pharmacotherapy with betablockers and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors significantly decreased morbidity and mortality.
The recent evidences prove the importance of the heart rate slowing with ivabradine as a new therapeutic mechanism for the further positive effect on patients' prognosis. Interventional cardiology, cardiac surgery and surgical therapy of valvular heart disease improves patients outcome.
The implantation of automatic defibrillators and devices for the cardiac resynchronization therapy prevents sudden cardiac death and pump failure.