How can diastolic dysfunction cause heart failure?
Diastole is the phase of your heartbeat when your heart relaxes and fills with blood. Diastolic dysfunction means that your left ventricle cannot relax properly during diastole. As a result, your ventricle does not fill with enough blood before it pumps. If diastolic dysfunction is severe enough, it can lead to heart failure. Diastolic heart failure happens because the left ventricle’s muscle becomes too stiff or thickened. To compensate for stiff heart muscle, your heart has to increase the pressure inside the ventricle to properly fill the ventricle. Over time, this increased filling causes blood to build up inside the left atrium and eventually into the lungs, which leads to fluid congestion and the symptoms of heart failure. Why doesn’t diastolic heart failure affect my ejection fraction? In diastolic heart failure, your left ventricle may pump well during systole; it is just not filling with enough blood during diastole. Your ventricle may have a normal ejection fraction, but it h
