In the United States alone, more than five million people suffer from heart failure (CHF) and an estimated 400,000 to 700,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. Caused by a variety of cardiac conditions, systolic heart failire (HF) is the end-stage of heart disease where the heart is failing as a pump. Once diagnosed with the disease, less than 50% of the patients live for five years, and less than 25% survive for more than ten years. The number of deaths in the United States from this condition has more than doubled since 1979, averaging more than 250,000 annually.