Epicardial Adipose Tissue as a Predictor of Plaque Vulnerability in Patients With Mild Chronic Kidney Disease

Fat expansion with obesity leads to chronic inflammation in adipose tissue itself caused by a local hypoxic state that triggers hypoxia-inducible factor 1 . The inflammatory response promotes adipose tissue fibrosis with excessive extracellular matrix accumulation, which leads adipose tissue into metabolic dysfunction (Figure ). 2 Visceral adipose fibrosis contrib-armful adipose deposition in visceral organs rather than overall fat volume has been considered to be important in elucidating the link between obesity and metabolic disorders. 1 Obesity is strongly associated with metabolic syndrome, but it is visceral adipose tissue that correlates with components of metabolic syndrome rather than subcutaneous adipose tissue. Recently, focus has been on ectopic adipose tissue as an excellent marker for predicting cardiovascular events.