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People often believe that “heart failure” means that a person’s heart simply stops beating. However, this chronic condition actually involves any scenario in which the heart’s well-choreographed process for moving blood throughout the body is impaired and functioning is reduced. The American Heart Association says that nearly six million Americans have some degree of heart failure. Heart failure can be categorized as systolic or diastolic.
A number of conditions can play a role in developing heart failure, including hypertension (high blood pressure), coronary artery disease (hardening of the arteries), diabetes, kidney disease, and an abnormal heartbeat. Symptoms of Heart FailureWhether systolic or diastolic in nature, the symptoms of heart failure may include:
If you exhibit symptoms of heart failure, one of the procedures your doctor may order is an echocardiogram, an imaging process that produces pictures of your heart. This, along with results from other tests, helps the doctor determine if heart failure is present and, if so, which type. In some cases, a patient may have mixed systolic and diastolic heart failure. Treating Heart FailureDifferent treatments are used for systolic and diastolic heart failure. For systolic heart failure, there is a set of medications that are typically prescribed. Devices like an implantable cardiac defibrillator may also be used. With diastolic heart failure, treatment tends to involve identifying and treating the condition or conditions (hypertension, diabetes, etc.) behind the heart problem. With either type of heart failure, your doctor will likely recommend lifestyle changes such as reducing your sodium intake, regular low-intensity aerobic exercise, eating a heart-healthy diet, and reducing your alcohol intake. Heart disease can be successfully treated, but the important first step is talking with your doctor about your symptoms if you are not feeling well. Get help with accessInstitutional accessAccess to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways: IP based accessTypically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account. Sign in through your institutionChoose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth / Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institution’s website and Oxford Academic.
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Signed in but can't access contentOxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian. Institutional account managementFor librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more. What is the difference between systolic and diastolic heart failure?With systolic heart failure, your heart isn't contracting well during heartbeats. While diastolic heart failure, by contrast, is when your heart can't relax normally between beats.
What is the difference between diastolic dysfunction and diastolic heart failure?When heart failure is accompanied by a predominant or isolated abnormality in diastolic function, this clinical syndrome is called diastolic heart failure. Diastolic dysfunction refers to a condition in which abnormalities in mechanical function are present during diastole.
How do systolic and diastolic heart failure occur?Systolic heart failure occurs when the left side of the heart becomes too weak to squeeze normal amounts of blood out of the heart when it pumps. Diastolic heart failure occurs when the left side of the heart is too stiff to relax and fill normally with blood.
What is systolic heart failure?Systolic heart failure is a specific type of heart failure that occurs in the heart's left ventricle. The left and right ventricles are the bottom chambers of the heart. In a person with systolic heart failure, the heart is weak, and the left ventricle can't contract (squeeze) normally when the heart beats.
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