What type of heart failure is characterized by an inability of the heart to pump sufficiently due to altered contractility?

Systolic heart failure is characterized by the heart's inability to contract effectively, leading to insufficient pumping of blood to meet the body's needs. This condition often results from impaired contractility, which can be due to various factors, including damage from a previous heart attack, long-standing high blood pressure, or cardiomyopathy.

In systolic failure, the heart muscle is weakened and cannot generate enough force to pump blood out during the contraction phase of the cardiac cycle. This leads to reduced ejection fraction, which is a key measurement used to assess heart function. Patients often exhibit symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath, and fluid retention due to the heart's decreased ability to circulate blood effectively.

In contrast, diastolic heart failure, also known as heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, primarily involves the heart's inability to fill properly due to stiffening of the heart muscle. Right heart failure refers specifically to the failure of the right side of the heart, often due to left heart failure or other underlying conditions. Pulmonary hypertension is a different condition that affects the blood vessels of the lungs and can lead to right heart failure but is not directly classified as a type of heart failure itself.

Therefore, the identification of systolic heart failure as the