Diastolic heart failure refers to heart failure without obvious reduction in left ventricular systolic contractile performance and is presumed to result from impaired left ventricular diastolic function. The impairment of left ventricular diastolic function is caused by slow left ventricular relaxation in early diastole and loss of left ventricular distensibility in late diastole. Diastolic heart failure currently accounts for more than 50% of heart failure cases in Western Societies and its prevalence relative to systolic heart failure rises at an alarming rate of 1% annually.