Abnormal left ventricular relaxation and symptoms of heart failure

The purpose of our study was to assess the echocardiographic and angiographic parameters in patients with symptomatic heart failure (HF) and mild diastolic dysfunction (grade I).

It remains uncertain why some patients with mild diastolic dysfunction exhibit HF symptoms and others are asymptomatic.

The study enrolled 80 hospitalized patients with impaired left ventricular (LV) relaxation. Patients were divided into two groups; one group had chronic functional class II to III dyspnea and the other group had no symptoms of HF. After admission, echocardiography and coronary angiography were performed for all patients and LV systolic and diastolic parameters were compared between the two groups.

More patients in the asymptomatic group were hypertensive (p-value: 0.012). However, coronary artery disease was more prevalent in symptomatic patients (p-value: 0.022). The LV ejection fraction (EF) was significantly lower in symptomatic patients [median 54.33 %, 95 % confidence interval (53.76-54.87 %) in asymptomatic patients and median 49.43, 95 % confidence interval (47.23-50.91 %) in symptomatic patients, p-value <0.001]. Furthermore, the systolic LV internal dimension was significantly larger in this group (p-value: 0.037). The results of logistic regression identified that only the absolute level of the LVEF was the negative determinant of the occurrence of HF in patients with impaired LV relaxation.

Our study showed that LV systolic performance has an important role in occurrence of HF symptoms in patients with grade I diastolic dysfunction.