Editorial: Novel and emerging therapies in heart failure

heart failure, acute, chronic, novel therapies, emerging therapies, comorbidities, HFrEFheart failure with reduced ejection fraction, HFpEFheart failure with preserved ejection fraction Editorial on the Research Topic Novel and emerging therapies in heart failure Heart failure (HF) has been named "the growing epidemic" (1, 2).Over the last decade, the annual number of HF hospitalizations has almost doubled with approximately 50% of patients being rehospitalized within 6 months of discharge (3).The complex array of physiologic, psychological, social, and health care delivery issues makes it a challenging chronic disease to manage.Understanding the epidemiology and pathophysiology of the syndrome, identifying the predictors and their strength of association with outcomes, and using the available diagnostic modalities cost-effectively are essential in order to implement novel therapeutic approaches to curb this epidemic.This research topic was initiated by Triposkiadis et al. and published in 2022 in Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine.Our aim was to invite articles highlighting current research in novel or emerging therapeutic approaches -pharmacological and invasive-in both the acute and chronic setting of the disease, as well as potential interaction and/or barriers with concomitant cardiovascular or non-cardiovascular diseases.In this special issue, we present 7 original research articles, 3 systematic review articles and 1 opinion article that address such issues and investigate why, despite the emergence of novel therapeutic approaches that promise life prolongation and hospital length reduction, this patient population often has a poor prognosis and often requires rehospitalization.Below is a summary of these articles.An increased number of HF patients suffer from chronic angina, which seriously impairs their quality of life (4).Cardiac shock wave therapy (CSWT) has recently become appealing due to the improvement in angina symptoms.In a systematic review and meta-analysis by Quan Qiu et al. the efficacy of CSWT on coronary artery disease (CAD) patients was evaluated.A total of 8 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and 2 prospective cohort studies involving 643 patients (n = 336 CSWT and n = 307 control) were included in the study.CSWT was shown to moderately improve myocardial perfusion and cardiac function among patients with CAD, a finding that may provide the clinicians with a meaningful and valuable option for revascularisation, for instance in selected HF patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy.