Recognition of diastolic heart failure in the postoperative heart

Diastolic dysfunction is assuming more importance as it is increasingly evident that it can be solely responsible for heart failure. Although many comprehensive studies pertinent to diastolic dysfunction and diastolic heart failure have been recently published, there is a paucity of information on diastolic dysfunction appearing in the postoperative cardiac surgical patient. We sought to look into current literature searching for criteria that could be applied to help diagnose it in this group of patients in the intensive care setting where cardiac surgical patients are usually managed in the immediate postoperative period. Because of the almost similar clinical features it is important to make the distinction between diastolic or systolic heart failure.