The management of chronic HF with reduced ejection fraction has significantly improved over the last 2 decades, but no real progress has been made in HFpEF. Despite the high prevalence, mortality, and cost of HFpEF, large phase III international clinical trials investigating interventions to improve HFpEF outcomes have yielded disappointing results. Therefore, treatment of HFpEF remains largely empiric, and almost no acknowledged standards exist. There is no single explanation for the negative results of past HFpEF trials. Concerns are mainly related to incomplete understanding of HFpEF pathophysiology, mechanism of action of study drug, suboptimal study design, target patient population, and suboptimal center selection for trial conduct. The Workshop “Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: lessons learned and directions forward future therapies” will feature up-to date presentations on pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions to improve HFpEF outcomes. The Workshop program format includes epidemiologic aspects, diagnostic tools, lessons learnt from the past, with particular focus on new drugs and the design of effective and efficient trials in order to improve outcomes in HFpEF. The perspective of the Workshop devoted to HFpEF will be: a) to summarise the current state of therapies and management concepts for HFpEF; b) to discuss why recent trials my have failed and how future trials in this field should be designed; and c) analyse recent data on novel therapeutic strategies. All attendants are internationally renowned experts in their fields. A summary of the results of the workshop will be published.
Michele Senni, Antonello Gavazzi, Burkert M. Pieske