Congestion assessment in heart failure: traditional and new tools

Congestion is an almost simultaneous structural and functional change in patients with heart failure (HF). It may be caused by excessive neurohormone activation and can be manifested as peripheral edema and pulmonary edema, and it is one of the important factors affecting the prognosis of HF patients. Therefore, the identification of congestion is the most important point in the diagnosis of pre-heart failure state. Based on the current experimental data, this review summarizes the traditional and new evaluation methods of congestive heart failure, objectively analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of different evaluation methods, focusing on the evidence that ePVS is related to clinical hyperemia and prognosis, so as to provide new ideas for diagnosis and treatment as well as intervention strategies for congestive heart failure patients.