Assessing prognosis in heart failure:you can see a lot if you look,but more if you look again

摘要

The management of an individual patient should encompass not only consideration of the diagnosis and appropriate treatment, but also assessment of prognosis. This is particularly so in the case of the patient suffering from a condition which may reasonably be expected to have an impact on life expectancy and on quality of life. Chronic heart failure (CHF) certainly meets these criteria, having an impact on prognosis as severe as that of many of the common malignancies and on quality of life as severe as other chronic conditions#