Does anyone know if diastolic dysfunction can be detected on an EKG? Is it possible to have a normal EKG and still have diastolic dysfunction? My blood pressure has always been normal, but for the past 6-8 weeks it's been consistently high for me (145-150/100-110) and my heart rate has decreased to an awake resting of about 60 bpm and asleep of less than 50 (I know this because I had a sleep study done and they noticed the drop in heart rate). I've been excercising regularly so I'm surprised my bp is up and someone mentioned to me that diastolic dysfunction can have the symptoms of increased bp and decreased heart rate. Are there any other physical symptoms of diastolic dysfunction?

Thanks for your help!

My understanding is that diastolic dysfunction is related to the condition of the ventricles, specifically how stiff or thickened the walls are. An ekg might indicate this, but you would really need an echo to figure it out. An ekg is a pretty general test. Mine is usually ok, especially with medicine, but my heart is not.

The EKG should be able to dx a diastolic dysfunction. Atruims and ventricles functioning are timed on the X axis of the graph. And heart tissue integrity is measured on the Y axis. Higher amplitude (measured in mvolts) of current through heart tissue indicates thickening of the wall or tissue necroses.

One explanation for a slower heart rate and higher bp could be the heart has strong contractions and vessels are contricted.

A diastolic dysfunction almost always has to do with improper filling. This can happen if the heart's walls have thickened decreasing chamber capacity and decreased flexibility and therefore an impediment to contractions. A very fast heartbeat will not provide enough time to fill. The result is a decrease in cardiac output causing contriction of vessels, faster heart rate, more fluids in the system, etc.

Diastolic dysfunction would have the same symptoms as a systole dysfuntion. Shortness of breath, fatgue, possibly chest pains, etc. With time and untreated there will be congested heart failure.

Ken provided an excellent description of diastolic disfunction. This actually just came up for me yesterday during my annual visit with my cardiologist. I recently had an EKG, Echo and Nuclear Stress Test and went over the results with her yesterday. One of the findings on my Echo was mild diastolic disfunction (ususally this is diagnosed by an echo). She explained that diastolic disfunction is graded 1 through 5 with 1 being considered mild. Basically put, diastolic disfunction means that the hearts ability to fill is compromised. Most common causes are regurgitation from a valve or hypertension which left untreated it can cause the heart muscle to thicken and decrease the heart's ability to fill properly which will result in less blood being pumped on each beat.

One statement that my cardiologist made was that this is a relatively new diagnosis that is being used to excess. 28% of patients having echos done will show some level of diastolic disfunction.

Good luck!

Tony