Epicardial Adipose Tissue and Coronary Artery Plaque Characteristics

Quantitative analysis of epicardial fat volume: effects of scanning protocol and reproducibility of measurements in non-contrast cardiac CT vs. coronary CT angiography

“…burden has been reported in the literature. Also the negative consequences of increased fat deposits in the extraor intra-pericardial regions and inside the heart (intraand inter-myocyte cells) on the coronary circulation and on the cardiac function have been reported by previous researchers (14)(15)(16). Epicardial and mediastinal adipose tissue can mechanically and functionally compromise the systolic and diastolic function of the cardiac ventricles (17).…”

“…Those results are similar to those published in the literature, which range from 68±34 to 124±50 mL in population-based studies (18,19) and 110±41 mL in women and 137±53 mL in men in a study including patients from the Framingham cohorts (20). The average computation time of EFV with our software was about 10-15 seconds after tracing pericardial boundaries, and the overall time needed to complete the measurement was about 2 minutes, while others described procedures that required more time and were thus considered to be excessively time and labor intensive (15,21,22).…”

Epicardial Fat Thickness is Increased in Vitamin D Deficient Premenopausal Women and does not Decrease after Short-term Replacement

“…EAT, measured with either TTE or CT, has also been associated with the presence and increased severity of coronary artery disease (CAD), and the presence of coronary calcification in a large number of studies 8,12) . Furthermore, EAT thickness has been demonstrated to be a stronger predictor for CAD than any other visceral adipose tissue located in the body 13) .…”

Thermogenic potential and physiological relevance of human epicardial adipose tissue

“…Epicardial fat volume has also been associated with obstructive CAD and non-calcified plaque burden, or, in other words, with the plaque characteristics in patients with CAD. 1 In addition, epicardial fat volume has been shown to independently predict thin-cap fibroatheromas, which can in turn predict the recurrence of adverse cardiovascular events in patients with advanced CAD. 36 It can therefore be concluded that epicardial fat accumulation shares a distinct and robust association with the onset, as well as with various stages of CAD progression in humans, thereby supporting the idea that its assessment should become a part of the routine clinical practice to aide with the risk stratification and appropriate management of CAD.…”