[Does a "senile heart" actually exist?].
The study of the aging heart raised for a long time difficulties in distinguishing the age-related physiological processes from the associated pathological changes. In recent years, however, several obscure or controversial items have been clarified through a wide use of imaging techniques such as echocardiography, positron emission tomography, and of molecular biology. The general notion of remodeling has been extended to include the arterial capacitance vessels, and the emerging concept of "ventricular-arterial coupling" has yielded a rational explanation for some structural and functional changes of the aging heart. Particular attention has been paid to the left ventricular diastolic dysfunction, while the new data have generally confirmed the old ones regarding the preserved systolic performance at rest. The aging of the heart should anyhow be considered in the context of the "cardiopulmonary unit" and by the light of the new acquisitions on the loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength (sarcopenia).
Morpurgo
Mario
M
Divisione di Cardiologia, Ospedale San Carlo Borromeo, Milano. mariomorpurgo@libero.it
Bergamaschini
Luigi
L
D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans