Abstract

The 2012 Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) Heart Failure (HF) Guidelines Update provides management recommendations for acute and chronic HF. In 2006 the CCS HF Guidelines committee first published an overview of HF management. Since then, significant additions to and changes in many of these recommendations have become apparent. With this in mind and in response to stakeholder feedback, the Guidelines Committee in 2012 has updated the overview of both acute and chronic heart failure diagnosis and management. The 2012 Update also includes recommendations, values and preferences, and practical tips to assist the medical practitioner manage their patients with HF.

Introduction

The Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) has published Heart Failure (HF) Guidelines since 2006 and implemented the National HF Workshop Initiative; a series of workshops initiated to discuss Guideline implementation and identify challenges facing health care providers in HF management. The annual updates have produced a series of evidence-based papers with recommendations and practical tips outlining HF management.

The constitution and roles of the primary and secondary panels, systematic review strategy, and methods for formulating the recommendations are described in detail on the CCS HF Consensus website.

The 2012 CCS HF Consensus Update objectives are to provide an overall review of HF management and recommendations. The Guidelines deal with the areas of (1) acute HF (AHF) and (2) chronic stable HF.