ABSTRACT
OVERVIEW Pump failure complicates the course of a significant proportion of patients presenting with acute myocardial infarction (MI). The syndrome encompasses a spectrum ranging from mild pulmonary congestion on presentation at one end to a severe shock state secondary to left ventricular (LV) pump failure or a mechanical complication of MI at the other. In this chapter, this spectrum will be discussed, beginning with the more severe form of low output, cardiogenic shock, and then reviewing the characteristics, treatment and outcome of patients with heart failure, an important subset of patients with acute MI whose high risk is largely unappreciated.
