Defining Heart Failure: EF Slicing and Dicing

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

Hello. This is Ileana Piña, and this is my blog. I'm here at the American College of Cardiology meeting where there is an electric buzz — and everyone can feel it — from the ability to be together again for the end of that terrible COVID-19 era that we have lived through, even though COVID-19 is still around. It hasn't gone away but some of the parameters have changed. It's really good to be together, seeing all of my friends.

I want to talk to you about that definition of heart failure. We've done this before in the blog. We have talked about the definition of heart failure, and remember, that it's not just that ejection fraction. It's also things like N-terminal pro b-type natriuretic peptide and signs of congestion. Congestion may be looked at on a chest x-ray, a CT scan, or a good physical exam that shows congestion to confirm the presence of heart failure.

We've come a long way. Now we've defined the pieces, the slicing and the dicing of the ejection fraction. We used to say that 40% or less — well, maybe actually 35% or less — was the low or the reduced ejection fraction.