Heart Failure - Acute Differential Diagnosis

Other conditions of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction should be ruled out such as cardiomyopathy (eg restrictive, hypertrophic, or non-compaction), valvular stenosis or regurgitation, pulmonary hypertension, right ventricular infarction, cardiac tamponade, constrictive pericarditis, pulmonary vein stenosis, atrial myxoma, high-output heart failure, and transient left ventricular systolic dysfunction.  

The following diagnostic workup may help exclude the following medical conditions in patients suspected of acute heart failure presenting with acute respiratory distress: For asthma, chest X-ray; for pulmonary embolism, ECG and chest X-ray; for pneumonia, CBC and chest X-ray; and for non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema (eg adult respiratory distress syndrome, pancreatitis, or sepsis), ECG, chest X-ray, and B-type natriuretic peptide level.