Heart Failure

Dinith88 · Feb 21, 2007

I'm spinning my tires a little bit on the subject of heart failure and can't find a decent description in my patho text. I was hoping someone on here could help out a bit.
What is the difference between diastolic heart failure and systolic?
Can one lead to another?
Many thanks

you can probably find a gazillion in-depth descriptions of CHF on the net. Just google it.

Quickly (and simply), heart 'failure' means a 'failure' of the heart to pump/circulate blood adequately. Blood will then back up on tissues/organs (esp. lungs!) and cause edema (ie pulmonary edema...) (where the term 'congestive' comes from)

SYSTOLIC failure means the heart (esp. left ventricle) is 'weak' and unable to 'pump' blood during 'systole' (when the heart squeezes). This is classic heart failure, and where you'll see low ejection fractions.

DIASTOLIC failure means, basically, that the heart (esp. left ventricle) is 'stiff' and unable to 'relax' during 'diastole' (when the heart rests for a bit between squeezes). Because it is unable to 'relax', it doesnt allow space for the blood to fill it...and thus the blood will back up on the lungs because it has nowhere to go. This is a little harder to diagnose because the left ventricle can be 'pumping' well (can have a normal ejection fraction).

And pulmonary edema that comes on quickly (you may hear the term 'flash pulmonary edema') is usually associated with diastolic failure...

You may be confusing systolic and diastolic failure with right and left heart failure. These are not the same... BUt right or left HF surely can cause the other... And...there are lots of sub-types and causes of chf/cardiomyopathy...

I suggest perusing the net...tons of info...

jaquelynne · Feb 26, 2007

Thanks for the info Dinith88! I have surfed around quite a bit & there is a ton of great info out there.

Are the two conditions related or do they occur in abscence of each other?

I know Right & Left heart faliure can be related as each side of the pump fails, but what about systolic & diastolic? Will one lead to the other?

Many thanks!

Curious1alwys, BSN, RN · Mar 11, 2007

Ok, Dinnith, are you seriously 88 yrs old??? If so, wow, your mind is still really sharp!!