心外膜脂肪组织在心房颤动中的研究进展

Advances in the Study of Epicardial Adipose Tissue in Atrial Fibrillation

摘要: 尽管心房颤动(AF)的患病率不断上升，且相关的发病率、死亡率和医疗费用不断增加，但人们对它的病因仍知之甚少。不同脂肪组织对AF的作用引起了强烈的科学兴趣，因为直接围绕心脏的脂肪库——心外膜脂肪组织(EAT)似乎与房颤的存在和严重程度具有最大的相关性。同样，炎症与AF的病理生理学有关，而EAT被认为是炎症介质的局部储存库，这些可以很容易地扩散到心房组织中，并有可能改变其结构和电特性。大量研究表明，EAT大小是AF的独立危险因素，脂肪组织扩张不可避免地与局部炎症过程相关。本综述首先介绍了AF，然后转向与EAT、炎症和AF相关的流行病学数据，最后总结了如何利用EAT来帮助AF患者的临床管理，并讨论未来的研究途径。

Abstract: Despite the rising prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF) and the associated increase in morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs, its etiology remains poorly understood. The role of different adipose tissues in AF has generated intense scientific interest, as epicardial adipose tissue (EAT), the fat depot that directly surrounds the heart, appears to have the greatest correlation with the presence and severity of AF. Similarly, inflammation is associated with the pathophysiology of AF, and the EAT is thought to be a local reservoir for inflammatory mediators, and these can readily diffuse into the atrial tissue and potentially alter its structural and electrical properties. Numerous studies have shown that EAT size is an independent risk factor for AF and that adipose tissue expansion is inevitably associated with local inflammatory processes. This review presents first an introduction to AF, then turns to epidemiological data related to EAT, inflammation, and AF, and finally summarizes how EAT can be used to aid in the clinical management of patients with AF and discusses avenues for future research.