Heart failure is both common and deadly. In the United States alone, approximately 0.5
million individuals present with newly diagnosed heart failure each year, and more than 4
million persons are currently afflicted. The majority of the most severely affected individuals
suffer from dilated cardiomyopathy arising from coronary artery disease or of unknown
cause. Mortality is high, with annual death rates approaching 50% in certain subsets.
Alarmingly, mortality from heart failure has been increasing over the past two decades, an …