Abstract
In nearly 40% of heart failure patients, left ventricular ejection fraction is not impaired. Majority of them develop heart failure due to impaired left ventricular diastolic function. This disease has some clinical characteristics including elderly people, female dominancy, and quick response to diuretic therapy. Hypertension, diabetes, and obesity are more closely associated with diastolic heart failure. Recent investigation shows that prognosis of this kind of heart failure is as worse as heart failure with systolic dysfunction. Since treatment for this condition has not been established, conventional treatments for systolic heart failure are applied. The incidence of diastolic heart failure is increasing according to the increment of elderly population. Further investigation is needed to elucidate the pathophysiology and clinical management of diastolic heart failure.
