Medical therapies for the management of cardiomyopathy and chronic congestive heart failure

Medical therapy for congestive heart failure has rapidly evolved over the past decade to include a spectrum of therapies that extend well beyond the traditional pharmaceutical-based strategies of the past. These therapies include multidisciplinary care, transplantation, device-based therapies with resynchronization, defibrillator therapy, and an expanding array of circulatory support devices designed for patients with both acute and chronic heart failure. It is critical that clinicians develop an understanding of the illness trajectory associated with heart failure progression in order to choose the most appropriate management strategies for each stage of the disease.