POCUS in Monitoring: LV Diastolic Function and Filling Pressures

In the last decade, the study of left ventricular (LV) relaxation properties to define diastolic dysfunction and the consequent increase in LV filling pressure has gained increasing importance for the assessment of heart failure, particularly the evaluation of the fluid status of the patient. Therefore, a thorough evaluation of diastolic function could be pivotal also in emergency and critical care settings for diagnosis, monitoring and guiding treatment. Noninvasive estimation of LV filling pressures and diastolic function by POCUS should be fully integrated into non-invasive bedside assessment of haemodynamics. This chapter describes the main grades of diastolic dysfunction and their evaluation with POCUS, highlighting their usefulness and limitations in daily clinical practice.