Abstract Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) represents a frequent observation in clinical practice. Nonetheless, the hypertrophic phenotype emerges as a common manifestation of diverse conditions, thereby presenting a diagnostic conundrum for clinicians. Differentiation among the etiologies of LVH is imperative for therapy decision-making, as different approaches must be implemented for distinct conditions, such as LVH secondary to loading changes, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), or HCM mimics. In some instances, an erroneous or late diagnosis may lead to a progression of the underlying […]

Introduction Heart failure (HF) is a progressive medical condition that affects approximately 1-3% of adults, with a significant increase in prevalence in older age groups. More than half of HF patients have a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of ≥ 50%, known as heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). While the overall number of HF cases seems to be stable or even declining, the incidence of HFpEF continues to rise. HFpEF patients differ significantly from those with reduced ejection […]

Abstract Background: Cardiomyopathy associated with partial lipodystrophy (PL) has not been well described yet. Objective: To characterize cardiac morphology and function in PL. Methods: Patients with familial PL and controls were prospectively assessed by transthoracic echocardiography and with speckle-tracking echocardiography (global longitudinal strain, GLS). The relationship between echocardiographic variables and PL diagnosis was tested with regression models, considering the effect of systolic blood pressure (SBP). Significance level of 5% was adopted. Results: Twenty-nine patients with PL were compared to 17 […]