Heart failure may be assessed as chronic at least 6 month after a myocardial infarction (MI), and before enrolling in the study, patients must have been on standard HF therapy for at least for 3 months (ACE inhibitor/ATII blockers, beta-blockers, MRA [with titration to the maximum tolerated dose] and diuretics) and in a stabilised state for at least 1 month (no hospitalisation for HF, stable NYHA class, no diuretic dose variation) [30]. The gene discussed is ACE; the disease is hydrops fetalis.