Diabetic Cardiomyopathy and Heart Failure

Abstract

was first used by Rubler in 1972 to describe a small cohort of 4 patients. The author demonstrated that there was no evidence of coronary artery disease on postmortem examination of the 4 study patients with diabetic glomerulosclerosis and HF. 7 Myocardial hypertrophy and fibrosis were observed in these patients, suggesting a role of altered metabolism in these findings. Rubler’s findings meet the contemporary European Society of Cardiology definition of cardiomyopathy. 8 Further supporting this work, Regan 9 in 1977 performed postmortem examinations in 11 patients with uncomplicated diabetes and found that 9 did not have coronary artery disease and most had died of HF. Multiple specimens from the left ventricle (LV) and interventricular septum revealed increased levels of triglycerides and cholesterol compared to controls. Therefore, the presence of