Heart failure is a devastating disease of epidemic proportions. Physicians are faced with an increasingly large choice of treatment options and questions including: how different genetic, racial and gender backgrounds can influence a patient's response; how to monitor treatment once it has begun; and what side-effects can be expected from these agents.

Contributors. Introduction. 1. Diuretics in congestive heart failure (Alicia Ross, Ray E. Hershberger and David H. Ellison). 2. Use of digoxin in the treatment of heart failure (Deborah DeEugenio and Paul J. Mather). 3. Renin-angiotensin system and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors in chronic heart failure (Rimvida Obeleniene and Marrick Kukin). 4. Angiotensin receptor blockers in the treatment of hart failure (Anita Deswal and Douglas L. Mann). 5. Beta blockers (Peter F. Robinson and Michael R. Bristow). 6. Aldosterone antagonism in the pharmacological management of chronic heart failure (Biykem Bozkurt). 7. Inotropic therapy in clinical practice (Sharon Rubin and Theresa Pondok). 8. Antiarrhythmic therapy in heart failure (Igino Contrafatto and Leslie A. Saxon). 9. Treating the hypercoagulable state of heart failure: modifying the risk of arterial and venous thromboembolism (Geno J. Meril and Hoard H. Weitz). 10. Vasodilator and nitrates (Abdul Al-Hesayen and John D. Parker). 11. Natriuretic peptides fro the treatment of heart failure (Jonathan D. Sackner-Bernstein, Hal Skopicki and Keith D. Aaronson). 12. Immune modulatory therapies in heart failure: using myocarditis to gain mechanistic insights (Grace Chan, Koichi Fuse, Mei Sun, Bill Ayach and Peter P. Liu). 13. The role of vasopressin and vasopressin antagonists in heart failure (Olaf Hedrich, Maervin A. Konstam and James Eric Udelson). 14. Role of erythropoietin in the correction of anemia in patients with heart failure (Revecca P. Streeter and Donna M. Mancini). 15. Endothelin antagonism cardiovascular disease (Srinivas Murali). 16. Pharmacogenetics (Richard Sheppard and Dennis M. McNamara). 17. Management of diastolic dysfunction (Arthur M. Feldman and Bonita Fakner). 18. Multidrug pharmacy for treatment of heart failure: an algorithm for the clinician (Mariell Jessup). Index.