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Epicardial Adipose Tissue: a Potential Therapeutic Target for Cardiovascular Diseases

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Abstract 

With increased ageing of the population, cardiovascular disease (CVD) has become the most important factor endangering human health worldwide. Although the treatment of CVD has become increasingly advanced, there are still a considerable number of patients with conditions that have not improved. According to the latest clinical guidelines of the European Cardiovascular Association, obesity has become an independent risk factor for CVD. Adipose tissue includes visceral adipose tissue and subcutaneous adipose tissue. Many previous studies have focused on subcutaneous adipose tissue, but visceral adipose tissue has been rarely studied. However, as a type of visceral adipose tissue, epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) has attracted the attention of researchers because of its unique anatomical and physiological characteristics. This review will systematically describe the physiological characteristics and evaluation methods of EAT and emphasize the important role and treatment measures of EAT in CVD.

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Funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82170245) and the Xinjiang Science and Technology Support Project (2018E02064).

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  1. Department of Cardiology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Jiefang Road 238, Wuhan, 430060, People’s Republic of China

    Wenxi Fang, Saiyang Xie & Wei Deng

  2. Hubei Key Laboratory of Metabolic and Chronic Diseases, Wuhan, 430060, People’s Republic of China

    Wenxi Fang, Saiyang Xie & Wei Deng

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Fang, W., Xie, S. & Deng, W. Epicardial Adipose Tissue: a Potential Therapeutic Target for Cardiovascular Diseases. J. of Cardiovasc. Trans. Res. 17, 322–333 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12265-023-10442-1

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