57 The future
Heart failure (HF) continues to challenge professionals in all areasof health care, yet remains one of the most rewarding medical conditionsto treat. Enormous advances in pharmacological care haveled to a doubling in life expectancy for patients with chronic HF; arenewed emphasis on the central haemodynamic abnormalities ofHF has led to the widespread uptake of cardiac resynchronizationtherapy (CRT); and changes in the delivery of health care togetherwith improved monitoring of patients have greatly increased thelikelihood of patients receiving the care they need.No textbook of cardiology is complete without a tour d’horizonconsidering possible new developments over the next 5–10 years:HF therapy has progressed dramatically in the last 30 years, andwill continue to do so over the next 30.
