Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF) is a relatively common and frequently undiagnosed form of heart failure in which the heart pumps effectively but has stiffness, resulting in poor filling capacity. Patients should be suspected if they present with unexplained dyspnea, exercise intolerance, fatigue, lower extremity edema, sudden weight gain (> 5 pounds), palpitations, and/or orthopnea, especially patients with associated risk factors such as obesity, type II diabetes mellitus, hypertension, atrial fibrillation, coronary artery disease, chronic kidney disease, sleep apnea, and/or anemia. A normal echocardiogram does not rule out HFpEF; therefore, other diagnostic testing is often needed to confirm HFpEF (biomarkers, imaging studies, including CT/MRI, exercise tolerance testing and/or risk scoring). Treatment is aimed at improving quality of life through symptom relief and includes diuretics, SGLT2 inhibitors (e.g., dapagliflozin, empagliflozin), ARNI (e.g., sacubitril/valsartan), MRAs (e.g., spironolactone), ARBs, newer generation agents (e.g., finerenone), weight control, GLP-1 agonists for obesity, lifestyle changes, and appropriate management of comorbid conditions to manage this multi-system disease requiring collaborative care.
Excellent clinical summary — concise yet comprehensive.
That’s a very well-structured overview of HFpEF. You’ve highlighted the key challenge diagnosis often requires more than a standard echocardiogram and the importance of recognizing risk factors like obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. I especially appreciate how you tied treatment to both symptom relief and broader management of comorbidities, since HFpEF really is a multi-system condition.
This is a great reminder that heart failure is not always about weak pumping stiffness and impaired filling, as seen in HFpEF, can be equally serious and easily missed
Explained in such a simple language, was very easy to understand. Need more posts like this !
Excellent and comprehensive overview, @JananiPriya_27! The evolving pharmacological landscape for HFpEF is really promising.
This shows how important it is to pay attention to symptoms and overall health, not just one report.
Thank you