Abdominal adipose tissue distribution on MRI and diabetes.
OBJECTIVE
To introduce a simple magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocol for quantitative assessment of intraperitoneal, retroperitoneal, and subcutaneous adipose tissue (AT) and to compare AT distribution between diabetic and nondiabetic individuals.


METHODS
Thirty-eight consecutive male diabetic patients (group A) and 38 males (who matched for body mass index [BMI]) without metabolic syndrome (group B) underwent abdominal MRI with a three-dimensional spoiled gradient echo T1-weighted sequence. The amounts of intraperitoneal, retroperitoneal, and subcutaneous AT were calculated on a workstation, after manual anatomic segmentation and were correlated with 10 anthropometric measurements. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were used for correlation of AT volumes with anthropometric measurements, Wilcoxon test to compare AT measurements between automatic and manual technique used, and unpaired t test to compare volumes of AT compartments between group A and B.


RESULTS
Diabetic patients exhibited larger amount of intraperitoneal and retroperitoneal AT than normal individuals at all levels (t = 2.02,P < .05). Among anthropometric measurements, the waist circumference, BMI, and body fat percentage exhibited the best correlations with intraperitoneal and retroperitoneal AT (group A (r) = 0.88/0.78/0.0.69 and group B (r) = 0.91/0.87/0.81). The L2-L5 set of images was found to be the most representative of the amount of AT volumes.


CONCLUSIONS
Amount and distribution of AT can be accurately and easily assessed on MRI. Quantification of intraabdominal AT may promote the role of imaging in the study of metabolic syndrome.
Department of Radiology, University Hospital of Alexandroupolis, Democritus University of Thrace, Dragana, Alexandroupolis 68100, Greece. Electronic address: mmantatz@med.duth.gr.
Michalis
M
Mantatzis
Department of Internal Medicine and Endocrinology, University Hospital of Alexandroupolis, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece.
Thanos
T
Milousis
Department of Internal Medicine and Endocrinology, University Hospital of Alexandroupolis, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece.
Simoni
S
Katergari
Department of Radiology, University Hospital of Alexandroupolis, Democritus University of Thrace, Dragana, Alexandroupolis 68100, Greece.
Andreas
A
Delistamatis
Department of Endocrinology, University Hospital of Alexandroupolis, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece.
Dimitrios N
DN
Papachristou
Department of Radiology, University Hospital of Alexandroupolis, Democritus University of Thrace, Dragana, Alexandroupolis 68100, Greece.
Panos
P
Prassopoulos
D050153:Abdominal Fat / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000378:metabolism*; D050154:Adiposity; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014018:Tissue Distribution
Adipose tissue; MRI; diabetes; metobolic syndrome; segmentation, body fat measurements