Half-body MRI Volumetry of Abdominal Adipose Tissue in Patients with Obesity

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent the whole volumes of abdominal subcutaneous (ASAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) of patients with obesity can be predicted by using data of one body half only. Such a workaround has already been reported for dual-energy x-ray absorption (DEXA) scans and becomes feasible whenever the field of view of an imaging technique is not large enough.

Methods: Full-body abdominal MRI data of 26 patients from an obesity treatment center (13 females and 13 males, BMI range 30.8-41.2 kg/m, 32.6-61.5 years old) were used as reference (REF). MRI was performed with IRB approval on a clinical 1.5 T MRI (Achieva dStream, Philips Healthcare, Best, Netherlands). Segmentation of adipose tissue was performed with a custom-made Matlab software tool. Statistical measures of agreement were the coefficient of determination R of a linear fit.

Results: Mean ASAT was 12,976 (7812-24,161) cm and mean VAT was 4068 (1137-7518) cm. Mean half-body volumes relative to the whole-body values were 50.8% (48.2-53.7%) for ASAT and 49.2% (46.3-51.8%) for ASAT. Corresponding volume fractions were 56.4% (51.4-65.9%) for VAT and 43.6% (34.1-48.6%) for VAT. Correlations of ASAT with ASAT as well as with ASAT were both excellent (R > 0.99, p < 0.01). Corresponding correlations of VAT were marginally lower (R = 0.98 for VAT, p < 0.01, and R = 0.97 for VAT, p < 0.01).

Conclusions: In conclusion, abdominal fat volumes can be reliably assessed by half-body MRI data, in particular the subcutaneous fat compartment.