Heart failure is the terminal stage of various heart diseases, and its high mortality and re-hospitalization rate are always been a difficulty in treatment. After years of clinical and basic research, the diagnosis and treatment of heart failure have updated
rapidly. The current national heart failure guidelines have subdivided heart failure into multiple categories, and have specific diagnosis and treatment methods for each category. This review provides a comprehensive introduction to chronic heart failure in terms of epidemiology, etiology and triggers, diagnosis and treatment of heart failure, complications and prognosis management based on the Chinese, American and European heart failure guidelines. It also makes a brief analysis and outlook for existing clinical trials, in order to make more readers understand the disease.