title: Making the most of the imaging we have: using head MRI to estimate body composition.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the use of clinical head magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in determining body composition and to evaluate how well it correlates with established measures based on abdominal computed tomography (CT).
  
  
  METHODS
  Ninety-nine consecutive patients were identified who had undergone both brain MRI and abdominal CT within a 2-week span. Volumes of fat and muscle in the extracranial head were measured utilising several techniques by both abdominal CT and head MRI.
  
  
  RESULTS
  MRI-based total fat volumes in the head correlated with CT-based measurements of fat in the abdomen using both single-section (r=0.64, p<0.01) and multisection (r=0.60, p<0.01) techniques. No significant correlation was found between muscle volumes in the abdomen and head.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on the present results, head MRI-based measures may provide a useful surrogate for CT measurements of abdominal fat, particularly in patients with neurological cancers, as head MRI (and not abdominal CT) is routinely and repeatedly obtained for the purpose of clinical care for these patients.
authors.affiliation: Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Blvd, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA. Electronic address: clack@wakehealth.edu.
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Lack
authors.affiliation: Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Blvd, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA.
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Lesser
authors.affiliation: Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Blvd, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA.
authors.forename: U N
authors.initials: UN
authors.lastname: Umesi
authors.affiliation: Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Blvd, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bowns
authors.affiliation: Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Blvd, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA.
authors.forename: M Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Blvd, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Case
authors.affiliation: Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Blvd, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA.
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Hightower
authors.affiliation: Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Blvd, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D050153:Abdominal Fat / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D000273:Adipose Tissue; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001823:Body Composition; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D006257:Head / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011860:Radiography, Abdominal; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D055815:Young Adult