ESC Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic heart failure 2008

^*Corresponding author. Chairperson: Kenneth Dickstein, University of Bergen, Cardiology Division, Stavanger University Hospital, N-4011 Stavanger, Norway. Tel: +47 51519453, Fax: +47 51 519921. Email: [email protected]

These guidelines were first published on the European Society of Cardiology Web Site on 30 August 2008. This article has been copublished in the European Journal of Heart Failure, doi:10.1016/j.ejheart.2008.08.005.

The content of these European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Guidelines has been published for personal and educational use only. No commercial use is authorized. No part of the ESC Guidelines may be translated or reproduced in any form without written permission from the ESC. Permission can be obtained upon submission of a written request to Oxford University Press, the publisher of the European Heart Journal and the party authorized to handle such permissions on behalf of the ESC.

Disclaimer. The ESC Guidelines represent the views of the ESC and were arrived at after careful consideration of the available evidence at the time they were written. Health professionals are encouraged to take them fully into account when exercising their clinical judgement. The guidelines do not, however, override the individual responsibility of health professionals to make appropriate decisions in the circumstances of the individual patients, in consultation with that patient, and where appropriate and necessary the patient's guardian or carer. It is also the health professional's responsibility to verify the rules and regulations applicable to drugs and devices at the time of prescription.