Prognosis in heart failure: is systolic or diastolic dysfunction more important?

The clinical syndrome of congestive heart failure can result from inadequate myocardial contraction (systolic myocardial failure), from pseudo-heart failure due to circulatory overload, or from failure of the ventricles to fill at low pressure (diastolic myocardial failure). The presence of systolic or diastolic heart failure is most precisely defined by an examination of left ventricular pressure-volume relations. Diastolic failure commonly coexists with systolic dysfunction. However, in many patients, diastolic dysfunction may exist alone or as the predominant physiologic disturbance. This is especially true in such common disease states as systemic hypertension and ischemic heart disease. Like systolic heart failure, diastolic failure results in significant morbidity and mortality. Diastolic heart failure may correlate better with prognosis for symptoms and survival than traditional indices of systolic function. The presence of predominantly diastolic dysfunction in large numbers of patients with the diagnosis of congestive heart failure has important therapeutic implications.