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Updated: Aug 5, 2025

The Isolation and Culture of Primary Epicardial Cells Derived from Human Adult and Fetal Heart Specimens
Published on: April 24, 2018
Epicardial Adipose Tissue: A Piece of The Puzzle in Pediatric Hypertension
Nina Schweighofer1,2, Mitja Rupreht1,2, Nataša Marčun Varda2,3
1Department of Radiology, University Medical Centre Maribor, Ljubljanska Ulica 5, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia.
Background And Purpose:
Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) is a metabolically active tissue located on the surface of the myocardium, which might have a potential impact on cardiac function and morphology. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether EAT is associated with essential arterial hypertension (AH) in children and adolescents.
Methods:
Prospective cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) study and clinical evaluation were performed on 72 children, 36 of whom were diagnosed with essential AH, and the other 36 were healthy controls. The two groups were compared in volume and thickness of EAT, end-diastolic volume, end-systolic volume, stroke volume, left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction, average heart mass, average LV myocardial thickness, peak filling rate, peak filling time and clinical parameters.
Results:
Hypertensive patients have a higher volume (16.5 ± 1.9 cm3 and 10.9 ± 1.5 cm3 (t = -13.815, p < 0.001)) and thickness (0.8 ± 0.3 cm and 0.4 ± 0.1 cm, (U = 65.5, p < 0.001)) of EAT compared to their healthy peers. The volume of EAT might be a potential predictor of AH in children.
Conclusions:
Our study indicates that the volume of EAT is closely associated with hypertension in children and adolescents.
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