ABSTRACT
Acute and chronic stable heart failure reflect
two different underlying processes, although
the originating event, defective cardiac
function, is the same. Heart failure becomes
chronic in part because the body’s
compensatory mechanisms have offset reduced
cardiac function, and in part as a consequence
of treatment (Table 2.1). From the patients’
perspective, chronic heart failure is a disease of
exercise intolerance due usually to
breathlessness or fatigue, or both. Perhaps
surprisingly, the origin of the symptoms
remains controversial.
