Heart Failure - Acute Differential Diagnosis

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.  

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.