Progression of systolic abnormalities in patients with "isolated" diastolic heart failure and diastolic dysfunction.
BACKGROUND
The definition of diastolic heart failure (DHF) relies on the use of sensitive tools to exclude the presence of systolic dysfunction. The use of ejection fraction (EF) of 50% as the cutoff point may not be adequate to address such a task. We believe that systolic dysfunction is common in DHF.


RESULTS
Echocardiography with tissue Doppler imaging was performed in 339 subjects, of whom 92 had systolic heart failure (SHF) (EF<50%), 73 had DHF (EF > or = 50% with diastolic abnormalities on Doppler echocardiography), and 68 had isolated diastolic dysfunction (DD); 106 were normal control subjects. Regional myocardial velocity curves were constructed off-line with the use of a 6-basal, 6-midsegmental model. The peak regional myocardial sustained systolic (S(M)) and early diastolic (E(M)) velocities were significantly lower in patients with SHF, DHF, and DD than in control subjects in almost all the myocardial segments. Likewise, the mean S(M) (SHF<DHF<DD<control subjects; 3.3 plus/minus 1.0 < 4.6 plus/minus 1.3 < 5.4 plus/minus 1.0 < 6.3 plus/minus 1.0 cm/s; all P less-than-or-equal 0.001) and mean E(M) (SHF=DHF<DD<control subjects; 3.6 plus/minus 1.2 =3.9 plus/minus 1.3 < 5.3 plus/minus 1.6 < 7.2 plus/minus 1.7 cm/s; all P<0.001) from the six basal segments were decreased in all the disease groups. A mean S(M) of 4.4 cm/s (-2 SD of control subjects) predicted the presence of systolic dysfunction in 92% of patients with SHF, 52% with DHF, and 14% with DD.


CONCLUSIONS
Through the use of tissue Doppler imaging, systolic abnormalities were evident in patients previously labeled as DHF and to a much lesser extent, isolated DD. This indicates the common coexistence of systolic and diastolic dysfunction in a spectrum of different severity in the pathophysiological process of heart failure.
Yu
Cheuk-Man
CM
Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Queen Mary Hospital, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. cmyua@hkucc.hku.hk
Lin
Hong
H
Yang
Hua
H
Kong
Shun-Ling
SL
Zhang
Qing
Q
Lee
Steven Wai-Luen
SW
D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003971:Diastole; D018450:Disease Progression; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D013318:Stroke Volume; D013599:Systole; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology