title: Comparison of 3 T MRI and CT for the measurement of visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue in humans.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  CT is considered the gold standard imaging modality for measurement of visceral adipose tissue area. However, as CT imaging exposes subjects to ionising radiation, a comparable imaging technique without this exposure is desirable, such as MRI. Therefore, we compared the agreement of measures of visceral adipose tissue and subcutaneous adipose tissue area from single-slice images obtained at the umbilicus using a 3 T MRI scanner with single-slice images obtained via CT scan.
  
  
  METHODS
  64 images were obtained from 27 subjects who underwent MRI and CT scanning on the same day, after 10-12 hours of fasting. Visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue depots were manually separated and quantified using a multimodality image-processing software program.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found good agreement between CT and MRI for the measurement of both visceral adipose tissue and subcutaneous adipose tissue. Bland-Altman difference analysis demonstrated a mean bias of -2.9% (as a portion of total abdominal area) for visceral adipose tissue and +0.4% for subcutaneous adipose tissue, as measured by MRI compared with CT.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MRI is a safe, accurate and precise imaging modality for measuring both visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue, making it a favourable alternative to CT for quantification of these adipose depots.
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Clinical Nutrition, Portland, OR 97239, USA. klopfens@ohsu.edu
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Klopfenstein
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Krisky
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Szumowski
authors.forename: W D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Rooney
authors.forename: J Q
authors.initials: JQ
authors.lastname: Purnell
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D050152:Intra-Abdominal Fat / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D050151:Subcutaneous Fat / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*; D014472:Umbilicus; D055815:Young Adult