10. Drugs for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction
Diastolic heart failure, or heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), occurs when the ventricular heart muscles contract normally, but don’t relax. Because of a preserved ejection fraction, the heart doesn’t properly fill with blood and leaves less blood to be pumped and distributed throughout the body.
Treatment for the syndrome is limited to accompanying conditions and symptom relief. Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic suggest that SGLT2 inhibitors, medications designed to treat Type 2 diabetes, could be used to treat HFpEF.
“We need to remember that this form of heart failure doesn’t have a definitive treatment today,” Dr. Nancy Albert, associate chief nursing officer of research and innovation at the Cleveland Clinic, said at the annual Cleveland Clinic Innovation Summit. “It’s promising to think that a drug that affects glucose metabolism might be beneficial to people who suffer from heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.”