Acute heart failure: definition, risk stratification, classification, formulation ot the diagnosis

The problem of an acute heart failure becomes more relevant due to the improvement of life maintenance in patients with the most severe forms of acute and chronic heart diseases. For effective treatment and the correct management of these patients it is important to clearly understand definitions of the key concepts of acute heart failure, classification, the principles of a wording of the diagnosis and risk stratification and prediction. The aforementioned aspects are critically discussed in the present article.

Key words

Acute heart failure, acute decompensation of chronic heart failure, pulmonary edema, cardiogenic shock, definition, classification, risk stratification.