Clinical assessment of left ventricular diastolic function

Abstract

Diastolic left ventricular disease is being increasingly incriminated as a cause of limitation of exercise tolerance, whether or not ejection fraction is normal,1 2 though the mechanisms by which it does so are far from clear. Indeed, it has been suggested that no diastolic abnormality at all need be demonstrated for a diagnosis of possible or probable diastolic heart failure to be made.