Guest Editor: Professor Michel Komajda, National Academy of Medicine in Paris, France

Heart failure is a common condition which affects 2% of the population worldwide. Since it is associated with a high mortality and with  recurrent and lengthy hospitalisations, it is a huge burden for healthcare systems and society. Major progress has been made over the last 30 years with the development of efficacious new classes of drugs and of devices which demonstrated benefit on mortality and/or hospitalisations in large randomised clinical trials. However, there are remaining unsolved questions or hurdles to an optimal care of patients with heart failure.

The goal of this Special Focus is to address these problems.

In particular, it will describe the underlying mechanisms of the failing heart, the role of iron supplementation, devices, and of coronary revascularisation in heart failure. We will also invite a manuscript reviewing potential differential responses to heart failure medications in women and in men. Finally, we will address the important problem of implementing guidelines and its hurdles.

This Special Focus has been made possible thanks to prestigious international experts in heart failure and I would like to express my gratitude to the contributors.

Prof Michel Komajda