ABSTRACT
Why have a chapter on cardiac failure in a book on blood flow in arteries? There are two good reasons – first that arterial disease (of coronaries or aorta) is responsible for most cases of cardiac failure now seen by physicians around the world, and second, that modification of arterial properties and of left ventricular afterload is the most effective method for treating and preventing cardiac failure. If one wants to manage cardiac failure most effectively, one needs to know how arterial properties and wave reflection characteristics impact on vascular-ventricular interaction, and how these properties can be modified.
