While the health risks of excess abdominal and hip fat are well-established, University of Virginia UVA Health scientists are developing a noninvasive method to assess the risks associated with visceral fat surrounding the heart.
The researchers, led by Frederick H. Epstein, PhD, of the University of Virginia’s Department of Biomedical Engineering, are seeking to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to assess the composition of adipose tissue – fat – that surrounds the heart. Analyzing this tissue could let doctors identify patients at greatest risk for potentially deadly cardiac problems such as coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation (irregular heartbeat) and heart failure, and to predict how well those patients may respond to treatments.
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Early testing of the technique has produced encouraging signs that the approach could be a powerful tool to improve patient care.
“Using this new MRI technique, we now for the very first time have the ability to know the composition of the fat that accumulates around the heart. This is important because depending on its makeup, the fat which surrounds the heart has the potential to release damaging substances directly into the heart muscle, leading to serious heart problems,” said researcher Amit R. Patel, MD, a cardiologist and imaging expert at UVA Health and the University of Virginia School of Medicine. “With our ongoing research, we hope to show that we can convert the unhealthy fat which surrounds the heart to a more healthy type of fat with either diet and exercise or through the use of medications. We believe that by doing so, we will be able to reduce some of the complications associated with heart disease.”
The heart is naturally enveloped by epicardial adipose tissue, a layer of fat that plays a protective and vital role in healthy individuals. However, in some, especially those with obesity and heart disease risk factors like diabetes, hypertension, smoking, and poor diet, this fat can accumulate excessively, becoming inflamed and undergoing detrimental compositional changes.
UVA researchers aim to use MRI to assess both the quantity and composition of this fat. This non-invasive imaging technique allows them to visualize the body’s interior. By analyzing the levels of saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids within the epicardial adipose tissue—fats commonly linked to diet—clinicians may be able to identify at-risk patients before symptoms manifest. Early identification and intervention could potentially slow the progression of heart disease, the leading cause of death globally and in the United States.
