The diabetic heart: A review of the lifework of Sophie Maria Koltai.

It is well known that cardiovascular alterations are the principal causes of mortality in patients with diabetes. Premature and accelerated atherosclerosis cannot be the sole cause of diabetic heart disease because functional disorders develop both in experimental and in clinical diabetes before the onset of the detectable morphological changes of the vessel wall. Namely, altered adrenergic responses and prostaglandin metabolism and diminished vasodilatory ability can be seen in diabetic vessels.