Author(s): Mariangela Peruzzi, MD, Giuseppe Biondi-Zoccai, MD, Ernesto Greco, MD, Antonino G.M. Marullo , MD, PhD, Antonio Barretta, MD3, Piergiusto Vitulli, Giulio Pompilio, MD, Giacomo Frati, MD
Heart disease is the leading cause of mortality in Western countries, accounting for 17.3 million deaths per year. The impact of cardiovascular diseases is influenced by the ability to treat and assist patients surviving acute myocardial infarction (AMI), which has resulted in a nearly epidemic of chronic heart failure (HF), with roughly 5.8 million people with this diagnosis and about 500,000 new cases every year in the U.S.A.