title: Surgical alternatives for the palliation of heart failure: a prospectus.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Congestive heart failure (CHF) is the leading cause of hospital admissions in the United States.
  
  
  RESULTS
  CHF has a variety of palliative options for treatment and 1 curative one: cardiac transplantation. Palliative medical therapies are often limited in effectiveness by progression of the disease or patient intolerance. Because of limited donor availability, alternative surgical strategies are now being relied on for palliation of patients in end-stage CHF.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this manuscript, we review the principles, outcomes, and practices of some of these surgical strategies often used in the palliation of end-stage CHF.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33612, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Maxey
authors.forename: W Brent
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Keeling
authors.forename: K Eric
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Sommers
mesh_terms: D006333:Heart Failure / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D016027:Heart Transplantation; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000601:surgery; D006353:Heart-Assist Devices; D006801:Humans; D008943:Mitral Valve / Q000601:surgery; D009204:Myocardial Revascularization / Q000379:methods; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology