Abstract
This year the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) published updated guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic heart failure. This article summarises new approaches in the diagnostics of heart failure.
Firstly, a new term was introduced for the patients with heart failure and ejection fraction value in the range 0.40-0.49. Until now these patients were comprised in the category of patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).
Now they have been categorised separately as patients with heart failure and mid-range ejection fraction (HFmrEF). It was shown that these patients have a slightly different phenotype and they also react differently to treatment.
Also, the algorithm for the diagnosis of heart failure in the non-acute setting has been changed to also include an estimation of probability of heart failure. Echocardiography still remains the key examination and where it is not available the examination of plasma levels of natriuretic peptides is gaining significance, especially for excluding heart failure when the plasma levels are normal.
The algorithm for the diagnosis of HFpEF has been simplified, requiring objective evidence of a structural and/or functional myocardial abnormality leading to decreased cardiac output and/or increase of intracardiac pressure at rest or during exercise.