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Telemedicine has the potential to constitute the central element of the future primary care and become an effective means of prevention and early warning of acute exacerbation of chronic diseases. Up to now, the application of telemedicine has found a variety of difficulties, regarding the types and methods of acquisition and transmission of biological signals, the acceptance and cooperation of the patient, etc. The latest technological developments involve the combined use of wireless technologies and smartphones, for the collection and the transmission of data, and specific softwares for their automatic analysis. This paper examines some of the critical aspects in the application of new technologies for heart failure remote management.

Extravascular lung water is a crucial parameter for the management of many different pathological conditions, especially heart failure. Many modalities can be employed for its evaluation, each with different advantages and limitations. In a near future, we hope that extravascular lung water assessment could be performed by non-invasive wearable devices, allowing remote continuous monitoring of pulmonary congestion. Recently, it has been proposed that some specific genetic variations may be responsible for the heterogeneous individual response to the development of extravascular lung water. These data could be relevant to titrate and personalize both treatments and preventive interventions.