Tag Archives: classification

From A to D: prevention becomes HF care Europe has finally adopted the American A–D staging framework, introduced in the American Heart Association (AHA) HF guidelines in 2001.2 Stage A identifies people at risk without symptoms or objective cardiac abnormality; stage B (pre-HF) identifies objective abnormality without symptoms; stage C denotes current or previous symptomatic HF; and stage D denotes advanced disease. This prevention-forward approach places risk-factor control and early detection within the HF pathway, rather than at its periphery. The patient conversation matters just as much as the classification itself. Telling an asympt

Introduction Cardiac tumours are a heterogeneous group of neoplasia growing from the heart tissue or the pericardium. Primary tumours of the heart are rare, they only constitute 0.5% of all tumours. Of those, 75% are benign and 25% malignant.1 Most malignant tumours are sarcomas. Recognition of a primary heart neoplasia is extremely difficult due to the variable symptoms. Malignant tumours are usually rapidly progressive, while benign tumours, such as myxomas, may exhibit symptoms over many years. Symptoms are various, depending on growth, size, location, possible cardiac obstruction and disorders of the cardiac conduction system.1 The fourth