What is the Difference Between Systolic and Diastolic Dysfunction

The key difference between systolic and diastolic dysfunction is that systolic dysfunction is due to a weakened left ventricle of the heart caused by the inability of the heart to contract the way it should, while diastolic dysfunction is due to a stiffer left ventricle caused by the inability of the heart to relax the way it should.

Heart failure occurs when the heart is unable to pump the required amount of blood to the body to keep it healthy. It can occur on the left or right side of the heart or on both sides. Therefore, it can be divided into two main parts: left ventricle heart failure and right ventricle heart failure. In left ventricle heart failure, the heart cannot pump enough blood out to the body. There are two types of left ventricle heart failure: systolic and diastolic dysfunction.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Systolic Dysfunction
3. What is Diastolic Dysfunction
4. Similarities – Systolic and Diastolic Dysfunction
5. Systolic vs Diastolic Dysfunction in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Systolic vs Diastolic Dysfunction

What is Systolic Dysfunction?

Systolic dysfunction is heart failure due to a weakened left ventricle of the heart due to its inability to contract the way it should. This is because the left ventricle has become bigger, and the heart cannot pump with enough force to push the blood throughout the body. The causes of systolic dysfunction include high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathy, and heart valve problems. People with systolic dysfunction may have symptoms such as shortness of breath, tiredness, weakness, swelling in feet, ankles, legs, or abdomen, lasting cough or wheezing, fast and irregular heartbeats, dizziness, confusion, neediness to pee more at night, nausea, and lack of appetite.

Systolic dysfunction can be diagnosed through physical examination, electrocardiogram, chest X-ray, echocardiogram, exercise test, and heart catheterization. Furthermore, the treatment for systolic dysfunction may include lifestyle changes (following up a healthy diet, exercising regularly, working toward a healthy diet, and quitting smoking), medications (diuretics, ACE inhibitors, beta-blockers, mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists, nitrate and hydralazine, digoxin, SGLT2 inhibitors), and surgery and devices (left ventricular assist device (LVAD), heart transplant).

What is Diastolic Dysfunction?

Diastolic dysfunction is heart failure due to a stiffer left ventricle. In this condition, the heart can’t relax the way it should. When this happens, the left ventricle can’t fill up with blood as usual. Therefore, there is less blood in the left ventricle, and less blood is pumped out to the body. Diastolic dysfunction can be caused due to high blood pressure, diabetes, coronary artery disease, kidney dysfunction, cancer, genetic disorders, obesity, and inactivity. The common symptoms of diastolic dysfunction are shortness of breath, tiredness, weakness, swelling in the feet, ankles, legs, or abdomen (edema), lasting cough, wheezing, nausea, lack of appetite, dizziness, confusion, and peeing more at night.

Diastolic dysfunction can be diagnosed through physical examination, medical history, echocardiogram, blood tests, electrocardiogram, chest X-ray, ultrasound, exercise test, and heart catheterization. Furthermore, the treatments for diastolic dysfunction may include a healthy lifestyle (healthy weight, balanced diet that is low in salt, cardiovascular exercises), medications (water pills for edema, other medications to control high blood pressure, diabetes, other heart conditions like atrial fibrillation), implantation of left ventricular assist device (LVAD), and heart transplantation.

What are the Similarities Between Systolic and Diastolic Dysfunction?

• Systolic and diastolic dysfunction are two types of left ventricle heart failures.
• In both types of conditions, the left ventricle is unable to pump the required amount of blood throughout the body.
• They may show similar symptoms.
• They are treated through lifestyle changes, medications, and surgeries.

What is the Difference Between Systolic and Diastolic Dysfunction?

Systolic dysfunction is due to a weakened left ventricle of the heart caused by the inability of the heart to contract the way it should, while diastolic dysfunction is due to a stiffer left ventricle caused by the inability of the heart to relax the way it should. Thus, this is the key difference between systolic and diastolic dysfunction. Furthermore, the causes of systolic dysfunction include high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathy, and heart valve problems. On the other hand, the causes of diastolic dysfunction include high blood pressure, diabetes, coronary artery disease, kidney dysfunction, cancer, genetic disorders, obesity, and inactivity.

The below infographic presents the differences between systolic and diastolic dysfunction in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.

Summary – Systolic vs Diastolic Dysfunction

Systolic and diastolic dysfunction are two types of left ventricle heart failures. In systolic dysfunction, the left ventricle cannot contract the way it should due to a weakened left ventricle of the heart. In diastolic dysfunction, the left ventricle cannot relax the way it should due to a stiffer left ventricle. Due to both types of conditions, the left ventricle fails to pump the required amount of blood throughout the body. So, this summarizes the difference between systolic and diastolic dysfunction.

Reference:

1. “Systolic Dysfunction.” An Overview | ScienceDirect Topics.
2. Richard N. Fogoros, MD. “What Is Diastolic Dysfunction and Diastolic Heart Failure?” Verywell Health.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Wiggers Diagram” By DanielChangMD revised original work of DestinyQx – Wikimedia Commons, File:Cardiac Cycle Left Ventricle.PNG. Source file has a serious mistake which was corrected in the new image. (CC BY-SA 2.5) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Diastolic dysfunction (impaired relaxation) E00879 (CardioNetworks ECHOpedia)” By CardioNetworks: Secretariat – CardioNetworks: E00879.jpgAMC Echolab, AMC, The Netherlands (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia