title: In-hospital management of acute heart failure: Practical recommendations and future perspectives.
abstract: Acute heart failure (AHF) represents the first reason for hospitalization in the elderly and despite therapeutic advances, remains a syndrome with significant morbidity and dismal prognosis. Hospitalization for AHF, on the other hand, is the single most important contributor to the huge financial burden related to HF. As a result, there is a significant unmet need for more effective in-hospital management of patients with AHF in order to improve outcomes, reduce readmission rate and alleviate the socioeconomic burden of the syndrome. The in-hospital management of AHF patients may schematically be divided into three phases, an early phase of intensive management of congestion and/or hypoperfusion, an intermediate phase of transition to oral life-saving medications and a late phase of discharge and transition to outpatient management. In the present paper, we attempt to provide a concise and practical roadmap for each of the above phases, focusing mainly on defining clinical and laboratory criteria for the evaluation of patients and on describing therapeutic algorithms that summarize the available evidence and guidelines. In addition, we highlight some key open issues that need to be addressed by future research.
authors: Heart Failure Unit, Department of Cardiology, Athens University Hospital Attikon, Athens, Greece. Electronic address: dimitrios_farmakis@yahoo.com.
authors: Dimitrios
authors: D
authors: Farmakis
authors: Heart Failure Unit, Department of Cardiology, Athens University Hospital Attikon, Athens, Greece.
authors: John
authors: J
authors: Parissis
authors: Department of Cardiology, G. Gennimatas Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors: Apostolos
authors: A
authors: Karavidas
authors: First Department of Cardiology, University Hospital AHEPA, Salonika, Greece.
authors: Charalambos
authors: C
authors: Karvounis
authors: Department of Cardiology, Larissa University Hospital, Larissa, Greece.
authors: Filippos
authors: F
authors: Triposkiadis
authors: Heart Failure Unit, Department of Cardiology, Athens University Hospital Attikon, Athens, Greece.
authors: Gerasimos
authors: G
authors: Filippatos
authors: Heart Failure Unit, Department of Cardiology, Athens University Hospital Attikon, Athens, Greece.
authors: John
authors: J
authors: Lekakis
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D019468:Disease Management; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000628:therapy*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011379:Prognosis
keywords: Acute heart failure; Congestion; Diuretics; Hospitalization; Inotropes; Life-saving therapies