Heart failure.

Acute circulatory failure is at one end of the spectrum of possible manifestation of cardiac failure. The other manifestations are less dramatic, but can be responsible for a great deal of ill health. The common factor in all forms of cardiac failure is the inability of the heart to produce an output sufficient for the needs of the patient. In the mildest forms of heart failure, heart output is adequate at rest and becomes inadequate only during exercise. Inmost patient, however, it is possible to detect at least some features of cardiac failure and of the complex haemodybanic, endocrine and renal compensatory mechanisms it evokes even when the pathent is examined at rest. The successful management of cardiac failure depends both on an accurate diagnosis of its cause.