The clinical dilemma of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: an update on pathophysiology and management for physicians.

The prevalence of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) continues to grow at alarming rates and is predicted to become the most prevalent phenotype of heart failure over the next decade. Recent data show a higher non-cardiac comorbidity burden associated with HFpEF, and similar overall hospitalisation rates when compared with patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Unfortunately, clinicians mainly focus their efforts in diagnosis of HFrEF despite HFpEF accounting for 50% of the cases of heart failure.

Essential echocardiographic evaluation in patients with suspected pulmonary hypertension: an overview for the practicing physician.

Prompt and accurate diagnosis of patients presenting with symptoms suggestive of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is of outmost importance as delays in identifying this clinical entity have detrimental effects on both morbidity and mortality. Initial noninvasive assessment of these patients has traditionally included a number of routine tests of which transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) has been shown to either confirm the presence of structural anomalies of the right ventricle (RV) indicative of PAH or exclude other potential causes of pulmonary hypertension (PH). Consequently, TTE has become a well-validated and readily available imaging tool not only used for this initial screening but also for routine follow-up of PH patients.