New echocardiographic techniques in the evaluation of left ventricular function in obesity
Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 14, 2026
Evaluation of Left Ventricular Structure and Function using 3D Echocardiography
Published on: October 28, 2020
Vitantonio Di Bello1, Iacopo Fabiani, Lorenzo Conte
1Cardiac,Thoracic and Vascular Department, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy. vitantonio.dibello@med.unipi.it
Insights
Obesity significantly impacts cardiovascular health, increasing cardiac workload and potentially leading to obesity cardiomyopathy. Echocardiography is key to understanding these hemodynamic changes and treatment effects.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Obesity Medicine
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Obesity is a global epidemic linked to cardiovascular diseases.
- Obesity adversely affects hemodynamics, cardiac structure, and function.
- Increased blood volume, cardiac output, and workload are characteristic of obesity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the pathogenetic mechanisms of obesity cardiomyopathy.
- To evaluate the role of bariatric surgery in managing obesity-related cardiovascular issues.
- To understand the complex interactions between obesity and heart health.
Main Methods:
- Review of experimental investigations on obesity and the heart.
- Consideration of bariatric surgery as an obesity treatment option.
- Focus on hemodynamic and structural changes in obese individuals.
Main Results:
- Experimental studies have identified mechanisms for "obesity cardiomyopathy."
- Bariatric surgery is an effective treatment for obesity after non-surgical methods fail.
- Many questions remain regarding obesity's pathophysiological effects on the heart.
Conclusions:
- Two-dimensional Doppler echocardiography is the reference technique for studying obesity-induced hemodynamic changes.
- Advanced ultrasonic approaches aid in clarifying these complex changes.
- Echocardiography is crucial for understanding obesity treatment effects on the heart.
Objective:
Obesity has reached global epidemic proportions and is associated with numerous comorbidities, including major cardiovascular (CV) diseases.
Design And Methods:
It has many adverse effects on hemodynamics and CV structure and function: it increases total blood volume and cardiac output, and the cardiac workload is greater. Typically, obese patients have a higher cardiac output but a lower level of total peripheral resistance at any given level of arterial pressure. Most of the increase in cardiac output in obesity is caused by stroke volume, although heart rate typically mildly increases also due to enhanced sympathetic activation.
Results:
Over the last few years, experimental investigations have unraveled some important pathogenetic mechanisms that may underlie a specific form of "obesity cardiomyopathy." Bariatric surgery represents an effective alternative to treat obesity when nonsurgical weight loss programs (diet + behavior modifications + regular exercise) have failed. A great numbers of questions are still open in the global comprehension of the pathophysiological interactions between obesity and heart.
Conclusion:
Conventional two-dimensional Doppler echocardiography, integrated by relative new technological ultrasonic approaches, represents the reference technique to study and possibly clarify both the very complex hemodynamic changes induced by obesity and those relative to obesity treatment.
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