Guidelines and Scientific Documents
Trustworthy recommendations and guidance for your clinical practice
ESC Clinical Practice Guidelines
Reliable guidance for every clinical decision
ESC Guidelines help health professionals determine the best diagnostic or therapeutic approach for individual patients with a given condition by providing a framework for decision making. Evidence-based and unbiased, they are carefully developed by a task force of experts and regularly updated.
The Latest ESC Clinical Practical Guidelines
Four new titles were released at ESC Congress 2026
2026 ESC Guidelines for the management of heart failure
These guidelines refine the heart failure classification by LVEF and introduce a stage‑based framework to strengthen prevention, early detection, and timely intervention. They propose a revised nomenclature for therapies.
Fifth Universal Definition of Myocardial Infarction (2026)
This consensus definition from the ESC, ACC, AHA and WHF classifies myocardial infarction into primary, secondary and procedure‑related types to align diagnosis with underlying pathophysiology and clinical evaluation.
2026 ESC Guidelines on Cardiac Rehabilitation
The release of the first ESC Guidelines on cardiac rehabilitation is a timely initiative, complementing the existing recommendations in contemporary ESC Guidelines and other ESC scientific documents.
2026 ESC Guidelines for the management of cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease
This is the first ESC Guideline dedicated to the management of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD), centred around the “STAMP on CKD” framework.
Scientific Documents
Evidence-based scientific documents
ESC Scientific Documents provide valuable advice for clinical management and interpretation of scientific evidence in areas not sufficiently covered by ESC Clinical Practice Guidelines.
Clinical Practice Tools
Practical tools to support clinical decisions
From risk calculators to our AI-powered guidelines companion and resources to make your patients better care partners, our clinical practice tools give you a bit of extra help when you want it.
Related Activities
Explore more initiatives and resources around our ESC Guidelines and documents
ESC Chat - Your Guidelines Companion
Get quick and personalised answers to your clinical queries, plus reference links and citations. Based exclusively on current ESC Clinical Practice Guidelines.
Developing trustworthy clinical practice guidelines
We publish guidelines and related resources to support everyone involved in cardiovascular care.
Patient versions of ESC Guidelines
Based on our guidelines, these documents explain diagnosis and treatment recommendations backed by evidence. They help patients understand their condition, engage in shared decisions, and adopt self-care strategies essential for effective disease management.
ESC Pocket Guidelines App
Make complex decisions with this free app that gives you calculators, algorithms, charts and scores. Online or offline, you get instant access to what you need to make it easier to apply ESC recommendations
See more about our Guidelines and Scientific Documents
Clinical Practice Guidelines
ESC Clinical Practice Guidelines present the relevant evidence on a clinical issue to help physicians weigh the benefits and risks of a particular diagnostic or therapeutic approach.
Scientific Documents
We regularly publish consensus statements, position papers and other scientific documents.
ESC Clinical Practice Tools
Online aides to assist with your patient care