Weight loss to prevent atrial fibrillation: The role of epicardial adipose tissue

Article history: Received 20 August 2015 Accepted 21 August 2015 Available online 2 September 2015 known to increase the risk of AF [11]. GPs contain hundreds to thousands of autonomic neurons and are typically located in the EAT. Hyperactivity of atrial GPs plays a key role in AF initiation and maintenance, whereas ablating these GPs provides additional benefits to the ordinary AF ablation [12]. Modulation of the cardiac autonomic nerve activity by ablation of GPs also breaks the vicious cycle formed by hyperactivity of the cardiac autonomic nerve system and atrial remodeling.