CFR - Volume 1 Issue 1 Spring 2015
In this first issue of Cardiac Failure Review, we are proud to review some major themes in the world of heart failure research. Hector Ventura and colleagues from the Ochsner Clinical School review the epidemiology of the interaction of heart failure and diabetes – an area of increasing importance.
Marco Guazzi reviews practical advice of how to assess heart failure patients for an exercise prescription, while at the other end of the spectrum Mariell Jessup summarizes the exciting “tomorrow’s world” developments in the field of left ventricular assist devices, which are fast becoming a real option for increasing numbers of end-stage heart failure patients. We have an expert review by Lisa LeMond and Sarah J Goodlin on a topic that sadly affects so many of our patients – and yet one of enormous importance to them and their carers – that of modern and effective end-of-life care, a field for too long considered a Cinderella.
There is an excellent and very detailed review of the state of the art of sleep disordered breathing in chronic heart failure. Martin Cowie is a leader in this field with colleagues at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London and he leads the exciting study of treatment of this condition in heart failure. Prof Coats reviews the confusing field of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction that has been ignored for so long and is now the subject of intense debate and study.
Another leading international expert, CM Yu from the Chinese University of Hong Kong leads his team in an excellent review of cardiac resynchronization therapy in the treatment of heart failure. Last, but certainly not least, Mihai Gheorghiade, Gerasimos Filippatos and colleagues review the cutting edge challenges of devising new therapies for a problem as old as the recognition of heart failure itself: what to do for the patient with acute pulmonary oedema?
Welcome to the journal and we hope you will enjoy reading it as much as we do in putting the experts together to review the fields that excite us the most.