Epicardial fat in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as a marker of high cardiovascular risk - review.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are commonly interconnected, and this coincidence negatively influences patients' mortality and morbidity. On the basis of the current available data originating mainly from cardiovascular studies epicardial fat (EF) has been proposed as a marker of cardiovascular risk. This review is focused on a potential role of epicardial fat as a new biomarker for risk stratification of COPD patients. Epicardial fat may present an important link between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cardiovascular diseases, mainly coronary artery disease.