Associations update heart failure guidelines

The most recent update of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines for the diagnosis and management of heart failure includes a new section on caring for hospitalized patients. The focused revision incorporates new clinical trial evidence, mostly from presentations at meetings of the ACC, AHA, and European Society of Cardiology since the last update in 2005. "We want to be sure the guidelines are current and timely, and reflect the latest data on the management of this important condition," said Mariell Jessup, M.D., a cardiologist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and chair of the writing committee for the update. The revised guidelines, written in collaboration with the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation, were published online simultaneously in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and Circulation the American Heart Association's journal. The biggest change is the addition of a section on managing patients who have been hospitalized with heart failure, a growing population, Dr. Jessup said. - medpage today