[Diabetic cardiopathy: pathogenesis, diagnosis and therapy]

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most widespread metabolic diseases in Western industrial countries with increasing prevalence due to a progressively aging population that is also characterized by increasing obesity and a sedentary life style. Cardiovascular conditions are the major prognostic complications of diabetes. Cardiologically, diabetic cardiopathy may become manifest on different structural and functional levels of the heart. Disorders may involve the micro- and macrocirculation (angiopathy), ventricular function (cardiomyopathy) and the intracardial nervous system (autonomous neuropathy). The following survey summarizes the cardiovascular risk with particular attention to the pathogenesis, diagnostics and therapy of diabetes mellitus related coronary disease and diabetic cardiomyopathy.