What is Epicardial Adipose Tissue (EAT) | Dr. Sumanta Chatterjee | Manipal Hospital Dhakuria

Duration: 1:36 208 transcript words EN summary

Video summary

Epicardial adipose tissue, commonly abbreviated as EAT, is a specific layer of fat located between the myocardium and the visceral layer of the pericardium, effectively sitting within the external layers of the heart. While this tissue exists in all individuals, its thickness serves as a critical indicator of cardiovascular health; a measurement of less than five millimeters is considered normal, whereas any accumulation exceeding this threshold is classified as abnormal. Medical professionals further categorize these deposits into mild, moderate, and severe levels based on their size, with severe deposition typically defined as being greater than eight or ten millimeters. The presence of excessive epicardial fat is not merely a passive storage issue but an active contributor to heart disease, particularly when associated with conditions like obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. This tissue releases specific hormones and endorphins that can directly increase the risk of coronary artery disease and accelerate atherosclerosis throughout the body. Consequently, EAT has become a subject of ongoing debate as a significant marker for cardiovascular risk, highlighting the importance of monitoring fat distribution within the heart itself rather than just general body weight. Fortunately, there are established methods to reduce this harmful fat content and lower associated cardiovascular risks through a combination of lifestyle changes and medical intervention. The primary approach involves strict diet control and regular exercise, which help manage overall metabolic health. In addition to these foundational steps, specific medications play a crucial role in inhibiting the accumulation of epicardial fat. Drugs such as SGLT2 inhibitors, DPP-4 inhibitors, and GLP-1 receptor agonists like semaglutide have shown efficacy in reducing this specific fat depot, thereby helping patients mitigate their risk factors for heart disease.

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Epicardial adipos tissue that is called EAT how dangerous it is. So the nowadays this is ongoing debate that epicardial atypos tissue is a cardiovascular marker of risk. What does that mean? That is a fat layer between the mioardium and the visceral layer of pedicardium. that is in between the two layers of heart external uh layers of heart that is called epicardial edibus tissue uh there is normal uh less than 5 mm that is normal if it is more than five it is abnormal so there is a mild moderate severe nomenclature if it is more than eight or more than 10 that is considered a severe uh deposition of fat tissue usually it is associated with obesity diabetes metabolic syndrome so that fat fat content usually releases some hormones and endorphins that increases uh coronary artery disease. Uh athosclerosis all over the body. uh usual methods of reducing it is very much uh I mean sensitive to uh I mean diet control and exercise by doing an exercise a good diet and some medicines like SJT2 inhibits like dagosin epiposin and GLP1 like semaglutide or tissipide they can reduce your epicardial fat content and by that way they can reduce your cardiovascular risk factors.