Role of Cardiovascular Ultrasound in the Evaluation of Obese Subjects

Obesity represents a worldwide increasing health problem. Obesity, through complex and not fully understood pathogenetic mechanisms, induces different structural and functional changes of left heart chambers, right heart chambers, and arteries. Ultrasound techniques are the first choice for a compre...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of cardiovascular echography 2014-07, Vol.24 (3), p.67-71
Main Authors: Antonini-Canterin, Francesco, Pellegrinet, Marco, Marinigh, Ricarda, Favretto, Giuseppe
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Review
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Obesity represents a worldwide increasing health problem. Obesity, through complex and not fully understood pathogenetic mechanisms, induces different structural and functional changes of left heart chambers, right heart chambers, and arteries. Ultrasound techniques are the first choice for a comprehensive assessment of the cardiovascular adaptation to obesity. This review summarizes the up-to-date literature on the topic, with particular focus on the main clinical studies, which range over different cardiovascular adaptations to obesity, namely left ventricular mass, diastolic function, right ventricle structure and function, arterial stiffness, and intima-media thickness. Also, the importance of epicardial fat and of the degree of obesity is described. Finally, the role of weight loss and bariatric surgery and the study of cardiovascular obesity-induced abnormalities in children and adolescent are discussed.
ISSN:2211-4122
2347-193X
DOI:10.4103/2211-4122.143961