title: Prognostic role of transthoracic echocardiography in patients affected by heart failure and reduced ejection fraction.
abstract: Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction is a common and malignant condition, which recognizes a lot of causes and that carries a poor long-term prognosis. All patients with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction, both asymptomatic and symptomatic, should be evaluated with transthoracic echocardiography as a depth analysis of first level, due to its characteristics of accuracy, availability, safety and low costs. In fact, echocardiography is an essential tool to establish not only the diagnosis, but also the aetiology and the understanding pathophysiology of heart failure. Moreover, by the new more sensitive and more specific echocardiographic technologies, such as tissue Doppler imaging or strain rate or speckle tracking or three-dimensional echocardiography, it is possible to identify other recognized high-risk parameters associated with adverse outcome, which are useful to guide therapy and follow-up management of heart failure patients. Therefore, this review would underline the prognostic role of some echocardiographic parameters in the evaluation and management of patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Advanced Biomedical Sciences, Federico II University, Via Pansini, 5, 80131, Naples, Italy, prastaro@unina.it.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Prastaro
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: D'Amore
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Paolillo
authors.forename: Mariangela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Losi
authors.forename: Caterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Marciano
authors.forename: Cinzia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Perrino
authors.forename: Donatella
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ruggiero
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gargiulo
authors.forename: Gianluigi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Savarese
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Trimarco
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Perrone Filardi
mesh_terms: D004452:Echocardiography; D006325:Heart Atria / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008944:Mitral Valve Insufficiency / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D011379:Prognosis; D013318:Stroke Volume