A novel paradigm for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: Working towards understanding the pathology of HFpEF

At this moment, more than 230,000 people in the Netherlands suffer from heart failure. More than half of these patients have a thickened and stiff heart muscle. In this condition the heart cannot fill well with blood. This causes patients to become tired quickly and very short-of-breath, which has a severe impact on their daily lives. An aging population and an increase of diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure will result in a further increase of patients with a stiff hard. Currently, there is no treatment for this condition. This research shows that a medicine is currently used to treat diabetes also prevents the stiffening of the heart. More research is need to determine whether this is the miracle cure for treating a stiff heart.
Financed by the Foundation for Scientific Education – personal aspiration fund, ERA-net CVD LYMIT-DIS, Boehringer Ingelheim, Dutch Hart Foundation