Abstract
This review serves as a synopsis of current knowledge about electrical muscle stimulation in patients with heart failure. It summarizes actual data, emphasizes the beneficial effects of electrical muscle stimulation in heart failure and tries to characterize a target population. Improvements of functional capacity and quality of life are knowingly achieved by variable stimulation protocols to the lower extremities. The population most likely to benefit from this therapy is of older age, has relevant comorbidities or reduced left ventricular ejection fraction. While short-term outcomes are mostly positive, there are few data on long-term outcomes that should be further investigated. Overall, electrical muscle stimulation can be considered a safe and efficacious therapy alternative to conventional physical exercise in patients with heart failure. Despite promising and increasing evidence for over two decades of scientific research on this topic, there are no recommendations in recent published guidelines concerning the use of electrical muscle stimulation in heart failure patients.