Diastolic Heart Failure [Hardcover]

Heart failure is the biggest killer in the western world, and the prevalence is expected to increase due to aging of the population. Over the past decade there has been an increasing awareness of left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction as a mechanism of congestive heart failure. This book provides the clinician with essential insights into the epidemiology and aetiology of diastolic heart failure, and will enable them to understand how the condition can be diagnosed. Furthermore, the book will provide insights in cardiac function that are needed to perform and interpret the diagnostic tests, and to provide some guides to treatment choices.

This book provides essential insights into the epidemiology and aetiology of diastolic heart failure, and will enable the clinician to understand how the condition can be diagnosed. The book provides insights in cardiac function, and some guides to treatment choices.

Heart failure is the biggest killer in the western world, and the prevalence is expected to increase due to aging of the population. Over the past decade there has been an increasing awareness of left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction as a mechanism of congestive heart failure, and it appears that more than 30-40 % of all heart failure patients have dominantly diastolic heart failure, with preserved or only mildly reduced systolic function. Recent clinical studies suggest that patients with congestive heart failure and preserved LV function may benefit from specific medical treatment. Furthermore, in patients with hypertension the presence of diastolic dysfunction is a sign that the myocardium has reacted to the elevated blood pressure, and might indicate the need for intensified antihypertensive therapy. In spite of all this there are very few textbooks that provides the knowledge that would be needed in cardiology practice to approach and deal with patients with diastolic heart failure.