Ch. 1. The heart failure syndrome: new insights --;from receptors to molecular biology --;Ch. 2. End stage heart failure --;options for medical treatment and beyond --;Ch. 3. Heart transplantation for cardiomyopathy --;therapeutic gold standard? --;Ch. 4. Cardiac assistance from skeletal muscle: achieving a variable and appropriately transformed graft --;Ch. 5. Cardiomyoplasty in chronic heart failure: the Paris experience --;Ch. 6. Biomechanical hearts in aorta-descendens position --;operative procedure and volumetry in adult goats --;Ch. 7. Geometrical considerations in (reverse) remodeling --;Ch. 8. Mitral valve repair for surgical remodeling --;Ch. 9. Reduction ventriculoplasty --;Ch. 10. Artificial heart: today's facts and future horizons --;Ch. 11. Apoptosis in heart failure --;reversible?