Hi,

Thanks for the question; in essence, diastolic dysfunction is caused by the inability of the heart to relax appropriately during diastole, the part of the cardiac cycle when the ventricles or pumping chambers of the heart should relax and get filled. overweight, advancing age, female gender, atrial fibrillation and particularly long standing hypertension have been implicated as risk factors.

The mainstays of treatment are good control of blood pressure low salt diet, sometimes diuretics are needed to help with fluid retention; beta blockers such as metoprolol or carvedilol are used to help the heart relax. Some also try nitrates such as isosorbide so that the load of blood to the ventricles is not so heavy.

Truly yours,

Dr Brenes Salazar MD
Cardiology
Mayo Clinic MN

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Usually there is not a way to completely reverse the adverse changes of diastolic dysfunction, but appropiate control of cardiovascular factors, including and very importantly hypertension, is able to prevent progression from mild diastolic dysfunction (eg. Grade 1) to severe diastolic dysfunction and heart failure.

Best regards

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