Detection of diastolic heart failure

An implantable medical apparatus for detecting diastolic heart failure (DHF), comprising:

• a pressure measuring unit adapted to interact with a subject to measure pulse pressure, as a blood pressure parameter, in a cardiac cycle for a predetermined workload situation of the subject, said pressure measuring unit emitting a pulse pressure signal indicative of said pulse pressure;
• and
• a comparator supplied with said pulse pressure signal that compares said pulse pressure with a predetermined reference value to produce a comparison result indicative of DHF state of the heart of the subject.

An implantable cardiac pacemaker comprising:

• a diastolic heart failure (DHF) determining device comprising a pressure measuring unit adapted to interact with a subject to measure pulse pressure, as a blood pressure parameter, in a cardiac cycle for a predetermined workload situation of the subject, said pressure measuring unit emitting a pulse pressure signal indicative of said pulse pressure, and a comparator supplied with said pulse pressure signal that compares said pulse pressure with a predetermined reference value to produce a comparison result indicative of DHF state of the heart of the subject;
• and
• a therapy administration unit adapted to interact with the heart of the subject to administer electrical cardiac therapy to the heart, said therapy administration unit being connected to said DHF determining device and being supplied with said comparison result therefrom, and administering said electrical cardiac therapy dependent on said comparison result.

A method for detecting diastolic heart failure (DHF), comprising the steps of:

• measuring a pulse pressure in vivo, as a blood pressure parameter, in a cardiac cycle of a subject for a predetermined workload situation of the subject;
• and
• electronically comparing said pulse pressure with a predetermined reference value to produce an electronic comparison result indicative of DHF state of the heart of the subject.