An Introduction To Diastolic Heart Failure
Diastolic heart failure is one of the cardiac conditions widely developed in elderly people in the recent years. The condition has been developed due to the stiffness or contraction of the left ventricle of the heart. The contracted ventricle loses its elasticity or resistance to collect specified amount of blood. This condition is referred to as diastolic heart failure. This term is commonly confused with systolic heart failure. The former is developed due to stiffness of the left ventricle which reduces the ability to collect the blood, whereas the diastolic heart failure is associated with the condition of pumping of the blood out from the ventricle.
Common Causes Of Diastolic Heart Failure
Diastolic heart failure is caused due to various reasons. The condition has been discovered by the medical scholars and researchers in the recent years after thorough research on the cardiac health illnesses. Being a cardiac illness, all kinds of common causes that lead towards developing a cardiac illness are responsible for developing the diastolic heart failure. However, not all the apparent causes of cardiac condition may lead towards developing the diastolic heart failure. The common reasons are accompanied with additional factors that complicate the health condition of the heart.
It is actually a syndrome developed due to the existing illness, either known or unknown. It is caused due to weakening of the blood vessels of the ventricles of the heart, caused due to weakened functioning of the heart, etc. Some of the cardiac conditions that cause diastolic heart failure are given below:
• Damaged / weakened heart muscles, vessels and valves
• Blocked vessels, which interrupts the blood inflow and outflow
• Overexposure to toxins, alcohol and smoking
• Elevated blood pressure levels
• High cholesterol
• Pericardial effusion, which refers to the accumulation of the fluid in the heart
• Genetic heart conditions.
• Coronary heart diseases
• Diabetes, obesity, overweight, etc
While the health conditions cause the diastolic heart failure, life style is also a major culprit that damages the cardiac system and develops the diastolic dysfunction.
Diastolic Heart Failure
What Are the Factors That Aggravates the Chances of Developing Diastolic Heart Failure
Irrespective of the causes of the diastolic heart failure, either medical or lifestyle risks, the regular functionality of the heart can be affected along with impaired pumping function of the ventricles. The impaired ventricles result with causing reprehensible heart mechanism in following cases, which causes other heart conditions as well as aggravates the risk of developing diastolic heart failure.
Cardio-myopathy – The cardiac illness refers to the extremely weakened heart muscles, which is characterized by the inability to contract the ventricles or inefficiency in pumping the blood, both in and out. This condition is caused due to the high blood pressure, heart attack, diabetes, obesity, high blood cholesterol and fat, and history or presence of coronary heart disease. This condition is very much responsible for the diastolic heart failure.
Myocardial Infarction – It is nothing but a heart attack that causes extreme level of pain or a form of painful punch in the chest, over sweating, shortness of breath, etc. This condition can either lead towards collapsing the left ventricle of the heart or cardiac arrest. The severe heart attack may ruin the life or create a permanent damage to the ventricles leading towards diastolic heart failure.
Hypertension – Hypertension is most commonly known as high blood pressures. Hypertension not only causes diastolic heart failure but is also responsible for many other disorders. Elevated level of blood pressure is very closely associated with heart functionality, which requires the heart to pump the blood with additional force and energy. Longer history of high blood pressure or extreme level of pressure damages the heart valves and muscles thus result is the reduced efficiency in contraction and expansion of ventricles. The similar kind of damage happens to the heart upon high cholesterol levels, which almost suppresses the normal functionality of the heart and grounds diastolic heart failure.
Blocked valves of the heart – Valves are responsible for blood flow. When the valve is blocked, it either fails to flow out the blood from the ventricles or carry the blood to the ventricles, it eventually enhances the workload of the heart, which results with damaging the ventricles and causes the Hypertension not only causes diastolic heart failure but is also responsible for many other disorders.
Cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy as well as thyroid conditions also affect the heart and causes diastolic heart failure.
Even though the above mentioned factors contribute towards developing diastolic or systolic heart failure, in several cases the actual causes are not known until extreme diagnosis.
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