Is Diastolic Heart Failure Real Heart Failure?
Since patients with diastolic heart failure have a normal EF, it is possible that they may not have “real” heart failure; their symptoms may be due to lung disease, obesity, anemia and/or deconditioning and not due to a cardiac abnormality. To address this issue, we evaluated patients with mild to moderate heart failure in association with normal and reduced EFs and compared these patients to age-matched controls. (3) We found that the pathophysiologic characteristics of patients with diastolic and systolic heart failure were similar. Furthermore, we have found that the clinical and radiographic findings are similar in diastolic and systolic heart failure. (4,5) We conclude that the syndrome of heart failure is the same whether associated with a normal or reduced EF.
Related Questions
- Ive been led to understand that heart failure can be subdivided into diastolic and systolic dysfunction. What is the distinction between these 2 forms of dysfunction?
- Is diastolic heart failuresynonymous with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction?
- Why is DIASTOLIC heart failure more common in elderly women than men?
