[Palliative care and chronic heart failure].
Heart failure is a very common clinical syndrome in cardiology which reduces life expectancy and has a significant impact on the quality of life. The treatment of heart failure improves survival thus the number of patients who reach the terminal state increases with this diagnosis. Major symptoms and psychosocial difficulties begin to appear during therapy which aims to prolong life or cure the life limiting illnesses. The World Health Organization (WHO) changed its definition in 2002 and concluded that palliative care should be provided "in the early stages of disease, together with another treatment that prolongs life." Palliative care involves multiple disciplines in order to solve problems caused by the symptoms of the disease and other related aspects of the patient and family who are considered as a one subject, because a feeling of well-being has an impact on others.Key words: heart failure - non-pharmacological treatment - palliative care.
Jiří
J
Vítovec
Ladislav
L
Kabelka
Lenka
L
Spinarová
Jindřich
J
Spinar