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Heart failure - chronic - Background information
Acute and chronic heart failure
- Acute and chronic heart failure
- The terms 'acute' and 'chronic' are used to describe the rate of onset of symptoms (acute = rapid) and duration of symptoms (chronic = prolonged).
- 'Acute' should not be used to indicate severity of symptoms, although typically acute heart failure presents dramatically with sudden severe breathlessness and tachycardia, and signs of pulmonary oedema, peripheral oedema, and systemic underperfusion.
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