Several publications note the usefulness of applying the Pressure-Volume catheter technique to the diagnosis of Systolic and Diastolic heart failure (i.e. heart failure with normal ejection fraction (HFNEF)). Westermann et al (11) demonstrate this when diagnosing 90 patients with CD Leycom's pressure-volume technology. Kitzman (10) refers to the 'PV-loop' technique as "state-of-the art". Recognized by Borlaug and Kass (6) as a gold standard assesment they postulate the "re-emerging importance of invasive hemodynamics in the assessment and management of heart failure".
Borrowing further from Borlaug and Kass (6):
"A few years after fading from the forefront of cardiology, interest in cardiovascular hemodynamics is returning, especially as newer devices are developed that help measure these parameters in patients chronically. Invasive assessment of cardiovascular properties provides greater insight into the mechanisms of disease in disorders such as HFpEF and can explain how patients who have different forms of heart failure respond to various therapies or to certain forms of stress. This information may be useful for treating individual patients and in understanding group differences and treatment effects. Invasive hemodynamic assessment remains the reference standard for assessing systolic and diastolic function and ventricular–arterial interaction and can allow more definitive diagnosis of heart failure, especially in patients where the diagnosis of HF that is based upon clinical and noninvasive evaluation alone remains uncertain."