It represents a syndrome where patients exhibit typical symptoms /shortness of breath, fatigue, edema/ and typical signs /tachycardia, tachypnea, wheezing, pleural effusion, hepatomegaly/ and structural or functional changes of the heart /cardiomegaly, gallop rhythm, noises, changes in ECG or in EchoCG/. There are different forms – acute and chronic, left-sided and right-sided, low-output and high-output, with reduced ejection fraction and preserved ejection fraction. The detection of an underlying cardiac cause is key to the diagnosis of heart failure.
