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Skeletal muscle abnormalities in chronic heart failure.
Panagiota Georgiadou1, Stamatis Adamopoulos
12nd Department of Cardiology, Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, 356 Syngrou Avenue, 176 74, Athens, Greece. pg171@hlk.forthnet.gr
Current Heart Failure Reports
|March 21, 2012
Summary
Skeletal muscle abnormalities are common in heart failure patients, impacting physical activity. Understanding and reversing these muscle changes may improve exercise capacity.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Exercise Physiology
- Muscle Biology
Background:
- Skeletal muscle abnormalities are present early in heart failure progression.
- These abnormalities contribute to symptoms and limit physical activity in heart failure patients.
Purpose of the Study:
- To summarize the skeletal muscle pathology in heart failure.
- To discuss the implications for exercise capacity and potential reversibility.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on skeletal muscle changes in heart failure.
- Analysis of morphologic, histologic, enzymatic, metabolic, and autonomic alterations.
Main Results:
- Heart failure causes diverse skeletal muscle changes affecting peripheral and ventilatory muscles.
- These alterations are present at rest and worsen with exercise, depending on disease severity and duration.
Conclusions:
- Skeletal muscle pathology is a significant component of heart failure.
- Further research is needed to understand the origin and reversibility of this 'myopathy' to improve exercise capacity through interventions like physical training.
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