For the past few years，a unique type of adipose tissue，surrounding our cardiovascular system but cerebrovascular， known as perivascular adipose tissue(PVAT)，has been seen as a new kind of adipose tissue different from the classic visceral fat due to its unusual anatomic location and function. PVAT exerts a bidirectional effect on the cardiovascular system，including the protectional role under physiological state and the deleterious influence under pathological state，through the release of vasoconstrictive/ relaxant adipokine in a paracrine/endocrine manner，the induction of inflammation and phenotypic transformation of adipocytes. PVAT also shows a potential role in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease(CVD)as a new parameter and intervention. In this review，we will discuss the characteristics of PVAT to distinguish from classic adipose tissue and its effect on CVD under physiology/ pathology conditions，also，its application in CVD diagnosis and treatment.