“Will diastolic dysfunction lead to heart failure? ”

Diastolic dysfunction is a condition when the heart muscle becomes stiff which prevents the heart from filling completely causing blood back up in the organs. This is called heart failure and the treatment depending on the cause of heart failure includes medications and devices such as defibrillator.

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When the heart beats, it contracts and then relaxes. Diastolic dysfunction is incomplete relaxation of the heart. Almost half of all patients who have this have normal contractility or what is called ejection fraction, the percentage that the heart contracts with every beat. Diastolic dysfunction can occur with age, but probably the most common cause is uncontrolled hypertension, or high blood pressure. Patients who have normal heart function but have severe hypertension can present in congestive heart failure with fluid overload and severe shortness of breath. There are many excellent medications that are available to treat high blood pressure and if it is well controlled, then diastolic dysfunction is minimized.

Technically, diastolic dysfunction is a type of heart failure. A common cause is long standing hypertension which induces the left ventricular muscle to get bigger and stiffer and thereby causing the pressure needed to fill the ventricle to increase. ---Diastolic dysfunction. If you are overweight, losing weight can help it improve.

Diastolic dysfunction means the relaxation of the heart is not functioning properly. The filling of the heart is inadequate. This can eventually lead to heart failure if the underlying problem is not corrected.

Yes, diastolic dysfunction can lead to congestive heart failure from the impaired relaxation of the heart.

Diastolic dysfunction means the heart muscle is stiffer than normal. When the muscle of the heart becomes very stiff, the pumping function suffers. The pumping function can suffer to the point that pressure builds up leading to a ‘back-up’ of blood flow. That build up of pressure and back up of blood flow equals heart failure.

Diastolic dysfunction can become as serious as any form of heart failure. It is essential that your father see his heart doctor on a regular basis to assure optimal treatment of his diastolic dysfunction.

High pressure in cardiac chambers can lead to failure and you will need a cardiologist.

Diastolic dysfunction means that the ventricular heart chamber does not open well to receive enough blood volume from the atrial chamber. If it opens poorly, the blood volume collected within the ventricle is insufficient for an adequate stroke volume when the ventricle contracts to propel blood to the body. This is a form of heart failure.

A common reason for diastolic dysfunction is the result of a non-compliant ventricular muscle wall that is stiff. A good example is muscle thickening (hypertrophy) resulting from aortic valve stenosis. In this case, the valve is scarred and does not open well causing the ventricular muscle to hypertrophy. The thickened muscle enables the ventricle to over come the resistance through the small valve opening but over time makes the ventricular stiff and noncompliant causing the ventricle to fill and empty inadequately. This resistance to blood flow across the valve can be auscultated with a stethoscope as a heart murmur.