Myocardial lipid accumulation and lipotoxicity in heart failure

The syndrome of chronic heart failure is a systemic disease state with primary cardiac dysfunction that subsequently affects multiple organ systems. After the primary cardiac insult, the clinical course of the patient is affected by comorbidities and the underlying type of cardiomyopathy. The most common cause of heart failure in the United States is coronary artery disease. This proportion is rising due to improved survival of patients after myocardial infarction secondary to the success of coronary revascularization procedures but also because of the increasing number of patients with cardiac risk factors such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia.