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Chapter One
Introduction
Christopher Ward
Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee
Key messages
The problems associated with treating heart failure in older patients are
more diverse and complex than in those who are younger.
The paucity of evidence-based guidelines for treating older patients results
in many having suboptimal management.
The expectations of older and younger patients are broadly similar.
1.1 A working definition of heart failure
(see also Chapter 5)
There have been numerous attempts to define heart failure. Some are convoluted and
others barely intelligible or else impractical: none has been generally approved.
This situation has arisen for two reasons. First, the underlying defect in all cases
of heart failure - the inability of the left ventricle to eject sufficient blood to meet
the body's metabolic needs - is not exclusively caused by myocardial damage; it can
result from diseases of the pericardium, endocardium or great vessels, and
a concise definition to incorporate all of these pathologies is elusive ... read full excerpt from A Practical Guide to Heart Failure in Older People ebook
