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. 2021 Feb 20;11(2):362. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11020362

Table 3.

Relationship between imaging measures of Cardiac Adiposity and Ventricular Arrhythmias.

CT CMR Echocardiography
ARVC Myocardial fat infiltration is associated with:
  • -

    RV dysfunction

  • -

    VT substrate (conduction and repolarization disturbances) [100,101,102]

 Myocardial fat infiltration is associated with:
• Diagnosis of ARVC
  • -

    severity of RV structural disease

  • -

    impaired RV functional status

  • -

    impaired LV systolic function [103,104,105]

• Stratification of ARVC-patients LV fat infiltration:
  • -

    is a predictor of VT/VF, SCD and aborted cardiac arrest

  • -

    allows a reclassification of 5-year risk of events compared with the ARVC score [106,107]
Healed myocardial infarction Myocardial fat infiltration is associated with:
  • -

    scar age and size,

  • -

    lower bipolar and unipolar amplitudes

  • -

    fragmented electrograms

  • -

    colocalization with critical VT isthmuses

  • -

    adverse outcomes including postablation VT recurrence and all-cause mortality [108,109]

 • Myocardial fat infiltration is associated with:
  • -

    larger infarcts

  • -

    adverse LV remodeling

  • -

    sustained VT, HF hospitalization and all-cause mortality [110]

• PAT is associated with:
  • -

    postablation VT recurrence [111]
HF • PAT is associated with:
  • -

    development of VT/VF and

  • -

    mortality in patients with systolic HF [112]

• Myocardial fat infiltration is related with:
  • -

    LV global function and

  • -

    fibrosis volume, in patients with DCM [113]

 EAT thickness is a predictor of:
  • -

    clinical events and

  • -

    arrhythmic events (VT/VF and AF) [114]
Other conditions RV-PAT is associated with
  • -

    the frequency of VPBs [115]

EAT thickness is associated with:
  • -

    prolonged QTc interval in hypertensive pts and in general population

  • -

    the frequency of VPBs in pts

  • -

    Without structural heart disease

  • -

    impaired post-exercise HRR in obese pts with obstructive sleep apnea

  • -

    VPBs ablation failure

  • -

    [116,117,118,119,120]

Abbreviations: AF: atrial fibrillation; ARVC: arrhythmogenic right ventricle cardiomyopathy; CMR: cardiovascular magnetic resonance; CT: computed tomography; DCM: dilated cardiomyopathy; EAT: epicardial adipose tissue; HF: heart failure; HRR: heart rate recovery; LV: left ventricle; PAT: pericardial adipose tissue; RV: right ventricle; SCD: sudden cardiac death; VF: ventricular fibrillation; VPBs: ventricular premature beats; VT: ventricular tachycardia.