Evolution of the concept of heart failure

The article is devoted to the review of heart failure syndrome with presentation in chronological order the clinical, instrumental, laboratory, morphological methods for patients’ examination and history of their development. The informative opportunities of electrocardiography, methods of imaging organs, invasive procedures for the study of the heart and blood vessels, loading stress- tests, endomyocardial biopsy for establishing signs of heart failure, prognosis of the course disease are shown. On the basis of international guidelines developed by experts of American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, Heart Failure Society of America, Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology identifi cation criteria of heart decompensation are summarized. The role of echocardiographic parameters for determining the classifi cation characteristics of the heart failure is emphasized