Harriette Van Spall, MD, MPH, is an associate professor in the Division of Cardiology at McMaster University.
When should we suspect and how to confirm heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (as the diagnosis may be difficult)?
Harriette Van Spall, MD, MPH: Heart failure (HF) is a clinical syndrome characterized by structural or functional impairment of the left ventricle, followed by left-sided and progressive right-sided congestion.
Patients present with HF symptoms and signs and these should be investigated with echocardiography, and sometimes stress hemodynamics and stress echocardiography, to assess for any abnormalities in the left-sided filling pressures or pulmonary pressures, which provide further evidence of HF.