Prognostic Markers in Advanced Heart Failure
Parth Godhiwala, Sourya Acharya, Sunil Kumar, Charan Bagga
Abstract
Heart Failure is a crippling condition with a very poor outcome. Advanced heart failure is the endpoint in patients of heart failure. Mortality rates are significantly higher among these patients. Heart failure is an impairing condition with a poor prognosis, especially during the advanced stage when patients progress with shorter survival rates and mortality rates higher than 50% during the first year of follow-up. Early identification of those patients who might experience the worst progression or premature death is vital, as this would allow intervention in an attempt to change the natural course of their disease. Conventionally, in evaluating heart failure populations, the magnitude of clinical manifestations has proved to be a valuable tool for prognosis stratification. Because of their symptoms, these patients need hospitalization and form a poor prognosis population, although tests may help to identify which ones will have the worst clinical progression.