Are left atrial epicardial fat mass and left atrial volume associated with the severity of atrial fibrillation?
Elevated left atrial epicardial fat mass without large LA volume may serve as an anatomical marker for the early atrial fibrillation disease process.
Left atrial epicardial fat mass was larger in PAF vs. SR, possibly indicating a marker of early disease, while large LA volumes were associated with a high prevalence of persistent/permanent AF. Elevated LA epicardial fat mass without large LA volume may reflect the early AF disease process.
Rosendael et al. (2022) studied this question.