21st Century Advances in Multimodality Imaging of Obesity for Care of the Cardiovascular Patient

JACC Cardiovasc Imaging. 2021 Feb;14(2):482-494. doi: 10.1016/j.jcmg.2020.02.031. Epub 2020 Apr 15.

Abstract

Although obesity is typically defined by body mass index criteria, this does not differentiate true body fatness, as this includes both body fat and muscle. Therefore, other fat depots may better define cardiometabolic and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk imposed by obesity. Data from translational, epidemiological, and clinical studies over the past 3 decades have clearly demonstrated that accumulation of adiposity in the abdominal viscera and within tissue depots lacking physiological adipose tissue storage capacity (termed "ectopic fat") is strongly associated with the development of a clinical syndrome characterized by atherogenic dyslipidemia, hyperinsulinemia/glucose intolerance/type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, atherosclerosis, and abnormal cardiac remodeling and heart failure. This state-of-the-art paper discusses the impact of various body fat depots on cardiometabolic parameters and CVD risk. Specifically, it reviews novel and emerging imaging techniques to evaluate adiposity and the risk of cardiometabolic diseases and CVD.

Keywords: adiposity; cardiovascular disease; imaging techniques; multimodality imaging,obesity; waist circumference.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Adipose Tissue / metabolism
  • Adiposity
  • Body Mass Index
  • Cardiovascular Diseases* / metabolism
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2
  • Humans
  • Obesity* / metabolism
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Risk Factors