Victorian study of Echocardiographic detection of Left ventricular dysFunction (Vic-ELF)

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Heart failure (HF) is a problem that is assuming epidemic proportions, especially among the elderly. Unfortunately, its clinical diagnosis is associated with late-stage disease, which has a poor prognosis and responds poorly to medical therapy. At present, there is no effective strategy for identifying and preventing HF, with the result that patients present late in the course of the disease where hospitalisation is inevitable and treatment responses are poor. The Vic-ELF study (Victorian Study of Echocardiographic detection of Left ventricular dysfunction) study is a randomised trial to explore the benefits of screening selected patients at risk of developing heart failure. We will do this with a special new imaging technique (strain imaging), in which we at Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute have special expertise. Screening of "at risk" patients with a combination of clinical scores and echo imaging is able to identify patients who are liable to develop HF. The question that now needs to be answered is whether surveillance with GLS could change HF outcomes in at risk patients. We anticipate that the prompt initiation of therapy in these patients that are recognized to have the earliest phase of HF will result in improvement in their functional capacity, and arrest in the subsequent progression to HF.