Volume estimates by imaging methods: model comparisons with visible woman as the reference.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the accuracy of four volume estimation models to actual tissue and organ volumes measured in the visible woman.


METHODS
Actual volumes were calculated from 1-mm-thick visible woman images that were segmented for five major components including subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue across the 1730 available slices. Four available models resolved to two equations: truncated cone/truncated pyramid vs. two-column/parallel trapezium. Between-slice interval and initial slice were systematically varied when deriving component volumes using the two equations in four regions.


RESULTS
For each compartment and each between-slice interval, the means of the two-column model were always the same as the corresponding reference volumes, whereas those of the truncated cone model were smaller than the reference volumes. Similarly, the coefficient variation for the two-column model was always smaller than for the truncated cone model.


CONCLUSIONS
The equation based on the parallel trapezium and the two-column models is more accurate in estimating tissue volumes than the corresponding equation for truncated pyramid and truncated cone models. This finding has important implications for the volume calculations of imaging-based body compartments such as adipose tissue.
Shen
Wei
W
Obesity Research Center, St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital, Columbia University, New York, USA. ws2003@columbia.edu
Wang
ZiMian
Z
Tang
Haiying
H
Heshka
Stanley
S
Punyanitya
Mark
M
Zhu
Shankuan
S
Lei
Jianbo
J
Heymsfield
Steven B
SB
D000715:Anatomy; D019412:Anatomy, Cross-Sectional; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008433:Mathematics; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012016:Reference Values; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed