Histological changes in epicardial adipose tissue in diabetic patients with endocarditis and coronary artery disease: Case report

Abstract

Obesity or excess adipose tissue has been linked to cardiovascular disease and mortality, it has been shown that visceral fat is involved in atherosclerosis, additionally it is known that pericardial fat has a large number of inflammatory markers and is metabolically active, in some studies the evidence shows that pericardial fat is more metabolically active in patients with atherosclerosis, It is also known that patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and obesity show a greater propensity for visceral fat deposition, which in turn increases the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and there is growing evidence that epicardial adipose tissue and pericardial adipose tissue play a role. In this series of four clinical cases 2 women and 2 men all over 60 years of age with diabetes on insulin or oral antidiabetic treatment, 3 had ischemic heart disease and 1 had valvular heart disease, we found that patients with BMI in the overweight and obese range had greater lymphocyte infiltration in epicardial fat, as reported in the biopsy than those with normal BMI.