Epicardial adipose tissue in diabetic myocardial disorder: Role of echocardiography

Table 2 Advantages and limitations of echocardiographic (i.e., ultrasound) epicardial adipose tissue thickness measurement

Advantages	Limitations
Non-invasive, easily done, cost-effective	No regional EAT measurement (e.g., atrial EAT)
Very little time consuming	Interobserver variability (especially in unexperienced investigators)
Simultaneous assessment of cardiac function	Non-ideal acoustic window
Reproducible	The lack of a reference range
Readily available for frequent follow-up	No volumetric assessment
Direct measure of visceral adiposity (rather than anthropometric measure)	No assessment of intramyocardial adiposity
Non-harmful	No EAT attenuation assessment (e.g., inflammation)

EAT: Epicardial adipose tissue.