title: Heart failure - what the general physician needs to know.
abstract: The British Society of Heart Failure (BSH) meetings highlight the latest advancements within the field of heart failure (HF) and provide education for training and revalidation for cardiologists and general physicians. This article reviews take-home messages from the 7th BSH HF revalidation and training meeting. It emphasises what every physician needs to know about the latest acute HF guidelines, diagnostics in HF, management strategies (including pharmacotherapeutics and device therapy), and when to consider referring to a transplant centre for mechanical circulatory support or transplantation. It describes the practical challenges faced and provides clinicians with a framework to assist with service development and commissioning of resources to deliver optimal, integrated services that meet the ever-advancing needs of our HF communities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Bart's Heart Centre, St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, UK, and PhD, University College London, London, UK eleanor.wicks@nhs.net.
authors.forename: Eleanor C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Wicks
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, and honorary senior lecturer, Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit, Bart's Heart Centre, St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: Lewis C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Davies
mesh_terms: D058005:General Practitioners; D006333:Heart Failure; D016027:Heart Transplantation; D006353:Heart-Assist Devices; D006801:Humans; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: Heart failure; commissioning; diagnosis; guidelines; service development; transplant; ventricular assist device
references.citation: Lancet. 1999 Jan 2;353(9146):9-13
references.pmid: 10023943
references.citation: Eur Heart J. 1999 Mar;20(6):421-8
references.pmid: 10213345
references.citation: N Engl J Med. 1999 Sep 2;341(10):709-17
references.pmid: 10471456
references.citation: JAMA. 2000 Mar 8;283(10):1295-302
references.pmid: 10714728
references.citation: N Engl J Med. 2000 Apr 13;342(15):1077-84
references.pmid: 10760308
references.citation: Lancet. 2000 Jun 10;355(9220):2051-2
references.pmid: 10885361
references.citation: N Engl J Med. 2001 May 31;344(22):1651-8
references.pmid: 11386263
references.citation: Eur Heart J. 2001 Dec;22(23):2171-9
references.pmid: 11913479
references.citation: Lancet. 2003 Sep 6;362(9386):772-6
references.pmid: 13678870
references.citation: Lancet. 2003 Sep 6;362(9386):777-81
references.pmid: 13678871
references.citation: N Engl J Med. 2004 Nov 11;351(20):2049-57
references.pmid: 15533851
references.citation: J Heart Lung Transplant. 2004 Dec;23(12):1414-22
references.pmid: 15607672
references.citation: Eur Heart J. 2005 Feb;26(3):215-25
references.pmid: 15642700
references.citation: N Engl J Med. 2005 Jan 20;352(3):225-37
references.pmid: 15659722
references.citation: J Card Fail. 2005 Oct;11(8):576-85
references.pmid: 16230259
references.citation: Circulation. 2006 Mar 21;113(11):1424-33
references.pmid: 16534009
references.citation: Eur Heart J. 2006 Oct;27(19):2338-45
references.pmid: 16963472
references.citation: Eur Heart J. 2008 Jan;29(2):270-6
references.pmid: 17916581
references.citation: Circulation. 2008 May 20;117(20):2608-16
references.pmid: 18458170
references.citation: Eur J Heart Fail. 2008 Oct;10(10):933-89
references.pmid: 18826876
references.citation: Circulation. 2009 Apr 14;119(14):e391-479
references.pmid: 19324966
references.citation: N Engl J Med. 2009 Oct 1;361(14):1329-38
references.pmid: 19723701
references.citation: N Engl J Med. 1991 Aug 1;325(5):293-302
references.pmid: 2057034
references.citation: Lancet. 2010 Sep 11;376(9744):875-85
references.pmid: 20801500
references.citation: N Engl J Med. 2011 Jan 6;364(1):11-21
references.pmid: 21073363
references.citation: N Engl J Med. 2010 Dec 16;363(25):2385-95
references.pmid: 21073365
references.citation: Heart. 2011 Jan;97(1):75-84
references.pmid: 21148582
references.citation: Eur J Heart Fail. 2011 Mar;13(3):235-41
references.pmid: 21159794
references.citation: N Engl J Med. 2011 Mar 3;364(9):797-805
references.pmid: 21366472
references.citation: N Engl J Med. 2011 Jul 7;365(1):32-43
references.pmid: 21732835
references.citation: Heart. 2011 Sep;97(18):1520-7
references.pmid: 21856726
references.citation: Eur J Heart Fail. 2012 Apr;14(4):341-3
references.pmid: 22431404
references.citation: Eur J Heart Fail. 2012 Aug;14(8):803-69
references.pmid: 22828712
references.citation: Circulation. 2012 Sep 11;126(11):1401-6
references.pmid: 22965780
references.citation: Eur Heart J. 2013 May;34(19):1404-13
references.pmid: 23095984
references.citation: Lancet. 2013 Jan 5;381(9860):29-39
references.pmid: 23141816
references.citation: Circulation. 2013 Oct 15;128(16):e240-327
references.pmid: 23741058
references.citation: JAMA. 2013 Dec 18;310(23):2533-43
references.pmid: 24247300
references.citation: N Engl J Med. 2014 Apr 10;370(15):1383-92
references.pmid: 24716680
references.citation: N Engl J Med. 2014 Sep 11;371(11):993-1004
references.pmid: 25176015
references.citation: JAMA. 2014 Dec 3;312(21):2223-33
references.pmid: 25402495
references.citation: N Engl J Med. 1987 Jun 4;316(23):1429-35
references.pmid: 2883575
references.citation: N Engl J Med. 1986 Jun 12;314(24):1547-52
references.pmid: 3520315
references.citation: N Engl J Med. 1997 Feb 20;336(8):525-33
references.pmid: 9036306