[Iron deficiency : a new target in treating chronic heart failure ?]

Iron deficiency is now recognized as an independent predictor of poor outcome in patients with chronic heart failure and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction. In randomized controlled trials, treatment with ferric carboxymaltose results in improvement in functional capacity, symptoms and quality of life, and might reduce hospitalizations. Thus, the recent European Society of Cardiology guidelines on heart failure recommend treating these patients with intravenous ferric carboxymaltose, whether or not anemic.