The term heart failure describes a group of diseases in which the heart cannot pump enough blood. Sudden onset cardiac diseases such as myocardial infarction, arrhythmias, and myocarditis can cause acute heart failure and often require immediate and intensive care using pharmacological and device therapies.

Meanwhile, chronic heart failure is generally balanced by several body processes, but the disease progresses insidiously. Patients with chronic heart failure eventually present with acute and severe symptoms or even death. In fact, almost half of patients with heart failure die within five years after the first onset.

There are two main types of chronic heart failure, commonly described as heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). HFrEF is caused by diseases that reduce the heart’s pump function, whereas in HFpEF, the heart retains pump function but the heart cannot store enough blood for pumping and thus cannot send blood to the rest of the body. At the Mount Sinai Cardiovascular Research Institute (CVRI), we study disease pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatments for both HFpEF and HFrEF.

Our research on HFrEF pathophysiology includes work on cardiomyopathy, genetics, myocardial infarction, and molecular signaling in disease development. Because HFpEF is closely associated with lifestyle-related disorders such as hypertension and metabolic disease, we focus on the immune system’s relationship to individual options and choices. We also actively study both left heart failure and right heart failure related to pulmonary hypertension. Developing novel therapies for heart failure employs unique approaches, including gene therapy, tissue engineering, device therapy, and stem cell therapy. These approaches are tested in various large animal models to promote clinical translation.