[Diabetic cardiomyopathy: possible pathogenetic role of coronary microcirculation]

The hypothesis that diabetes mellitus provokes a specific cardiomyopathy is supported by numerous clinical, epidemiological and anatomopathological studies. However, the frequent association of diabetes mellitus with other conditions, such as hypertension and coronary atherosclerosis, both capable of causing the dysfunction of the cardiac muscle, makes it difficult to interpret many of the data reported in the literature and contributes to the continuing debate regarding the effective existence of diabetic cardiomyopathy and its possible pathogenetic mechanisms. In clinical terms, diabetic cardiomyopathy is manifested both as an altered diastolic and/or systolic phase, assessed using various non-invasive techniques, or as congested cardiac decompensation. The pathogenesis of diabetic cardiomyopathy is still not altogether clear. The alteration of the smallest coronary vessels might be responsible for the increased interstitial fibrosis found in the heart of diabetic patients. In this paper numerous data from the literature on this argument are reported and the authors advance the hypothesis that endothelial dysfunction may play a pathogenetic role in the development of cardiopathy.