Introduction: Sacubitril/valsartan (S-V) has been shown to reduce clinical outcomes in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). This benefit has been mostly attributed to an improvement in systolic function.
Aim: This study aimed to evaluate longitudinal changes in several echocardiographic parameters of diastolic function in a cohort of patients with HFrEF receiving S-V.
Methods: Echocardiographic parameters of consecutive patients receiving S-V, such as diastolic dysfunction (DD) grade and other individual diastolic and systolic function parameters, were prospectively collected at baseline and at 6-month follow-up. New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class was also recorded.
Results: 65 patients (73.9% males; 61.5 ± 13 years) with HFrEF in NYHA class II-IV were evaluated. There was a significant reduction in DD grade after treatment with maximal tolerated doses (p < 0.001). Patients with advanced DD showed the most significant improvements: 75% and 60% of patients with initial grade 3 and 2, respectively, had better grade after 6 months of S-V. Moreover, there was a reduction in E/e' ratio (p = 0.004), left atrial longitudinal strain (p = 0.002), and an improvement of left ventricle ejection fraction (p < 0.001) and NYHA functional class (p = 0.001). Among those subjects who improved their functional class, a higher percentage improved their DD grade (39.3%, p = 0.025) in comparison with those not improving their NYHA class (25%, p = 0.434).
Conclusions: In addition to an improvement in systolic function parameters, patients with HFrEF receiving S-V improved their diastolic function. This echocardiographic improvement is particularly relevant in those patients with better NYHA class at 6-month follow-up.
Keywords: Diastolic function; Heart failure; Sacubitril–valsartan; Systolic function.