Amit Patel, MD, (white coat) and Fred Epstein, PhD, using MRI technology.
Everyone knows the health risks of carrying too much fat around the waist and hips, but did you know that having too much fat around the heart can also lead to cardiac problems such as coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation, and heart failure?
Our hearts are naturally surrounded by a layer of fat known as epicardial adipose (fatty) tissue. In healthy people, this fat is protective and vital for heart function. But in some people, particularly people with obesity and risk factors for heart disease such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and a poor diet, this fat can accumulate excessively, become inflamed and undergo harmful changes in its makeup.
Backed by a new National Institutes of Health R01 grant for $3.2 million, researchers Amit Patel, MD, professor of cardiology and radiology, and Fred Epstein, PhD, professor of biomedical engineering and radiology, are partnering to study the relationship between the fatty acid composition of the epicardial adipose tissue and the risk of developing a poorly understood type of heart failure, which occurs despite having a normal ability to pump blood (i.e. heart failure with preserved ejection fraction or HFpEF).
In prior research, Epstein and Patel developed a noninvasive way to quantify the composition of the fat surrounding the heart using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging or cardiac MRI. The details of the technique and its validation have been published in the prestigious journal Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. They have additionally validated the relationship between the fatty acid composition of the epicardial adipose tissue and HFpEF in the mouse model.
In their new project, the researchers will examine the role of HFpEF in causing heart failure, for which no treatments have been shown to improve survival. Epstein and Patel hypothesize that individuals with HFpEF will have high levels of saturated fatty acids in their epicardial adipose tissue and the degree of saturated fatty acids will be associated with key abnormalities in the pathophysiology of HFpEF, such as diastolic dysfunction, myocardial fibrosis, and abnormal myocardial deformation. They aim to show that unhealthy epicardial adipose tissue may be converted to a more healthy type in patients with HFpEF, with either diet and exercise or use of medications, and improve health outcomes for patients
Filed Under: Research