RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to evaluate epicardial fat thickness (EFT) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) having right ventricular systolic dysfunction (RVSD). PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study was comprised of 98 patients with COPD and 40 healthy controls. All the study participants underwent 2-dimensional, pulsed and tissue-doppler transthoracic echocardiographic examination for the measurements of EFT and parameters of right and left ventricular functions. Patients with COPD were divided into mild and severe RVSD groups according to right ventricular fractional area changes (RVFACs). RESULTS: Age, gender, prevalence of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, body-mass-index (BMI) and dyslipidemia were similar between COPD patients and controls, as were between mild, and severe RVSD groups. Prevalence of smoking were higher in COPD patients than in controls. Right ventricular end-diastolic diameter, myocardial performance index and peak pulmonary systolic pressure were found to be higher in COPD patients, while tricuspid annular plane systolic, excursion, isovolumic accelerating time, EFT and EFT/BMI were found to be lower in COPD patients. COPD patients with severe RVSD had thinner EFT and lower EFT/BMI values than those with mild RVSD (4.10 ± 0.77 vs 5.48 ± 1.28 mm, p < 0.001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The present study shows that the EFT decreases in patients with COPD and it is also associated with the degree of RVSD. Therefore, evaluating EFT in patient with COPD may provide information about the severity of the disease.