Cardiac Dysfunction in Patients with Fatty Liver Disease

Cirrhotic cardiomyopathy is seen as a blunted contractile responsiveness to stress, and/or altered diastolic relaxation with electrophysiological abnormalities, in absence of known cardiac disease. Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) is associated with risk of hepatorenal syndrome (HRS) , septic shock. , heart failure in the perioperative period following liver transplantation, and after trans-jugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) insertion . The echocardiographic E/e' ratio is a predictor of survival in LVDD, with multiple studies, including prospective data from our Centre. The inability of the heart to cope with stress or sepsis induced circulatory failure is a key concept of the increased mortality risk due to LVDD. In view of the metabolic syndrome and diabetes epidemic and an increasing number of patients being diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, there is increased risk of developing cardiac dysfunction due to multiple comorbidities including coronary artery disease, hypertensive heart disease, cirrhotic cardiomyopathy, which are contributors to overall cardiovascular risk of mortality.