[Diastolic dysfunction and heart failure]

Systolic and diastolic dysfunctions might present same symptomatology, but these are totally different entities. Diastolic dysfunction is a common disease. The most important causes are coronary artery disease and/or left ventricular hypertrophy. This disease has to be diagnosed and treated according to the physiopathology mechanism. Several mechanisms exist that influence and determine diastolic function, if one or a combination of them is altered; this would result in a wide clinical spectrum ranging from a patient without symptoms to an incapacitating state.