[Systolic heart failure in elderly patients]

Heart failure is becoming more and more important because of an increasing prevalence in elderly people. Even in healthy elderly individuals there are physiological changes in the cardiovascular system which can be modified by cardiac risk factors and comorbidities and trigger the onset of heart failure. The symptoms in the elderly are often atypical and can be difficult to diagnose in the presence of comorbidities. Echocardiography is important for the diagnosis of heart failure and can be easily and non-invasively performed. This can be complemented by further imaging methods and serological tests, such as determination of the concentrations of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and n-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NTproBNP). In elderly patients the problem of polypharmacy often arises. Therapeutic goals are in particular improvement in the quality of life and of symptoms.