title: Automated assessment of whole-body adipose tissue depots from continuously moving bed MRI: a feasibility study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To present an automated algorithm for segmentation of visceral, subcutaneous, and total volumes of adipose tissue depots (VAT, SAT, TAT) from whole-body MRI data sets and to investigate the VAT segmentation accuracy and the reproducibility of all depot assessments.
  
  
  METHODS
  Repeated measurements were performed on 24 volunteer subjects using a 1.5 Tesla clinical MRI scanner and a three-dimensional (3D) multi-gradient-echo sequence (resolution: 2.1 x 2.1 x 8 mm(3), acquisition time: 5 min 15 s). Fat and water images were reconstructed, and fully automated segmentation was performed. Manual segmentation of the VAT reference was performed by an experienced operator.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Strong correlation (R = 0.999) was found between the automated and manual VAT assessments. The automated results underestimated VAT with 4.7 +/- 4.4%. The accuracy was 88 +/- 4.5% and 7.6 +/- 5.7% for true positive and false positive fractions, respectively. Coefficients of variation from the repeated measurements were: 2.32 % +/- 2.61%, 2.25% +/- 2.10%, and 1.01% +/- 0.74% for VAT, SAT, and TAT, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Automated and manual VAT results correlated strongly. The assessments of all depots were highly reproducible. The acquisition and postprocessing techniques presented are likely useful in obesity related studies.
authors: Department of Radiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. joel.kullberg@radiol.uu.se
authors: Joel
authors: J
authors: Kullberg
authors: Lars
authors: L
authors: Johansson
authors: Håkan
authors: H
authors: Ahlström
authors: Frederic
authors: F
authors: Courivaud
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Koken
authors: Holger
authors: H
authors: Eggers
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Börnert
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D050218:Body Fat Distribution / Q000379:methods; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods; D050152:Intra-Abdominal Fat / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009038:Motion; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D050151:Subcutaneous Fat / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D051598:Whole Body Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult