Millions of people around the world live with heart failure, but not all forms of the disease are the same.
One type, called heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), is becoming more common, especially in older adults.
People with HFpEF often feel breathless, weak, or exhausted because the heart has become stiff and cannot fill with enough blood between beats. Even though the heart appears to pump normally on standard tests, patients can still develop serious symptoms and repeated hospital visits.
Doctors have traditionally paid close attention to the left side of the heart. New research suggests they may also need to carefully examine the right side. The right ventricle has the important job of pumping blood into the lungs.
If it weakens, oxygen delivery throughout the body can suffer, making heart failure more difficult to manage.
Researchers led by Xin Du at Xiamen Humanity Hospital investigated how often right ventricular dysfunction occurs in people with HFpEF. Their work was published in BMC Cardiovascular Disorders on June 10.
The investigators examined information from 163 adults treated for HFpEF between 2022 and 2024. Every patient received detailed heart ultrasound examinations. The researchers also measured NT-proBNP, a protein released into the blood when the heart is working harder than normal.
Nearly four out of every ten patients, or 41.7%, were found to have right ventricular dysfunction. Those patients generally had much higher NT-proBNP levels, indicating greater stress on the heart.
The researchers compared several ultrasound measurements to see which ones best detected right-sided heart weakness. One measurement called right ventricular free wall strain was the strongest single predictor. However, combining several ultrasound measurements with the NT-proBNP blood test produced an even more reliable result. The combined approach correctly separated patients with and without right ventricular dysfunction with very high accuracy during the study.
These findings suggest that doctors may improve care by using a more complete assessment rather than depending on a single measurement. Finding right-sided heart problems earlier may help doctors identify patients who need closer follow-up or more aggressive treatment before symptoms become worse.
The study also highlights how modern heart ultrasound technology can provide much more information than traditional scans. Instead of simply looking at heart size, doctors can now measure how different parts of the heart muscle move and stretch, giving a clearer picture of heart function.
There are important limitations. Because the study looked back at existing patient records, it cannot show that earlier detection automatically improves patient outcomes. The research also came from one medical center with a relatively small number of participants. Future studies involving many hospitals and more diverse patients are needed to confirm the results.
Overall, the research provides encouraging evidence that combining advanced heart ultrasound measurements with a simple blood test could help uncover hidden heart damage in people with HFpEF.
If future studies confirm these findings, doctors may be able to diagnose patients sooner, tailor treatment more precisely, and possibly reduce future complications.
If you care about heart health, please read studies about how eating eggs can help reduce heart disease risk, and herbal supplements could harm your heart rhythm.
For more health information, please see recent studies that olive oil may help you live longer, and vitamin D could help lower the risk of autoimmune diseases.
Source: Xiamen Humanity Hospital.
