Measurement of Visceral Fat/subcutaneous Fat Ratio by 0.3 Tesla MRI

Purpose: Visceral fat-type obesity is known to be closely related to hyperlipidemia and diabetes. The visceral fat area/subcutaneous fat area ratio is used for the diagnosis of visceral fat-type obesity. In this study, we measured the visceral and subcutaneous fat areas in the fat images obtained using 0.3 Tesla open-type MRI, and investigated their usefulness.

Materials And Methods: A short TR was set to shorten the acquisition time, and in-phase and out-of-phase images were acquired during holding of breath. The visceral and subcutaneous fat areas were automatically measured from the fat image using a workstation. The measurements were compared with the visceral and subcutaneous fat areas measured by CT as the gold standard.

Results: No major differences were observed in the fat areas measured by MRI and CT. This method was capable of imaging during holding of breath, and clearly imaged visceral and subcutaneous fat.

Conclusion: CT is not free from the concern of radiation exposure, whereas MRI is free from radiation. For measurement of the visceral and subcutaneous fat areas, 0.3 Tesla MRI was useful.