The potential application of electrophysiology diagnostics and therapeutics in acute heart failure syndromes

A major conundrum in the management of acute heart failure syndromes is the observation that patients are generally treated successfully during the in-hospital phase, but have a markedly high post-discharge event rate [1, 2]. The 30-day readmission rate has remained fairly constant or increased over the last decade at approximately 25% [3, 4]. Over one-third of patients hospitalized for acute heart failure syndromes are dead 1 year after discharge [3]. Despite fairly successful implementation of heart failure performance metrics in recent years, there has been no significant improvement in these outcomes [5]. It has become clear that our current state-of-the-art care of patients with heart failure exacerbation is not sufficient. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.