Elsevier

Academic Radiology

Volume 15, Issue 1, January 2008, Pages 62-70
Academic Radiology

Original investigation
Comparison of Low-Dose CT and MR for Measurement of Intra-Abdominal Adipose Tissue: A Phantom and Human Study1

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acra.2007.07.013Get rights and content

Rationale and Objectives

The aim of this study was to determine the accuracy and reproducibility of low-dose computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) for abdominal adipose tissue quantification on phantom and human studies.

Materials and Methods

An adiposity phantom (with known internal/external oil volumes) was scanned at three different tube voltages (140, 120, and 90 kVp) using a 16-detector row CT scanner and was imaged using a T1-weighted spin echo MR sequence. For human studies, whole-volume coverage of the abdomen was obtained using CT (at 140 and 90 kVp) and T1-weighted spin echo MR imaging from five obese male volunteers (mean age, 40.6 years; mean body mass index, 30.2). The volumes of total, visceral, and subcutaneous adipose tissues (TAT, VAT, and SAT, respectively) were calculated independently by two radiologists for each CT scan and MR imaging using a computer-aided semiautomatic program.

Results

The estimated radiation dose could be reduced by approximately 75% with a 90-kVp protocol as compared with the 140-kVp protocol. Phantom studies showed that there was no statistically significant difference between the four methods in estimating the percentage predicted of the true volumes (measurement errors <4% for all methods, P > .05). In human studies, we found no statistically significant difference between the three methods in TAT, VAT, and SAT volumes (P > .05). Inter- and intraobserver reproducibilities of the CT volume estimates using the 90-kVp protocol were better than those obtained from MR imaging (κ > 0.9 versus 0.4–0.5; coefficient of variation < 1% versus 15–22%).

Conclusion

Low-dose CT provides accurate and reproducible measurement of abdominal adipose tissue volumes with a relevant dose reduction.

Section snippets

Phantom

A phantom was created to simulate the distribution of VAT and SAT in the abdomen. The phantom was constructed of an acrylic cylinder (diameter 20 cm; length 28 cm), airtight plastic bags (height 25 cm; width 15 cm), and latex balloons (diameter, 0.5–7 cm) filled with vegetable oil, normal saline, or air (Fig 1). The diameter and length along the z-axis of the phantom were 37 cm and 33 cm, respectively. The visceral fat compartment consisted of an oil-filled cylinder. Three round, saline-filled

Radiation Exposure in CT Scans

According to the manufacturer’s data, a small difference was found in the mean CTDIvol between phantom and volunteer studies that were acquired at the same kVp. This may be mostly attributable to the difference in the size of scanned objects. Mean effective doses to volunteers were estimated to be 14.3 ± 1.8 mSv at 140 kVp and 3.8 ± 0.6 mSv at 90 kVp. Thus with the assignment of a value of 100% to the radiation dose obtained at 140 kVp, the relative dose obtained at 90 kVp was 26.5% at a

Discussion

CT (10, 11, 12) and MR imaging (13, 14, 15) have been considered the most accurate and reproducible methods for directly assessing regional abdominal adipose tissue. One of the limitations of CT, however, is that it uses ionizing radiation. This characteristic of CT makes it unsuitable for longitudinal studies because the participants in obesity research may need to undergo repeated examinations over short intervals.

The results of our study using the phantom showed that it was possible to

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    Supported by a grant no. 01-2007-09 from the Hallym University Medical Center Research Fund.

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