Comparison of Visceral Fat Volume and Visceral Fat Area
at Umbilical Level Assessed by Multislice Computed
Tomography
Jongjirasiri S, MD¹, Noinark C, MD¹, Kamtasila S, MEng², Laothamatas J, MD¹
Affiliation : ¹ Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand ² Biomedical Engineer, AIMC, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
Objective: To validate the in-house software that quantify the total abdominal fat volume using multi-detector computed
tomography (CT), and define the clinical significance of the capacities of intra-abdominal visceral fat volume (VFV) and
subcutaneous fat volume (SFV) to the specific zones, which were scanned by a conventional single-slice CT at the level of umbilicus.
Materials and Methods: Individuals who underwent a 320-slices coronary CT angiogram between January and March 2009 (40 men, 60 women) were recruited. SFV and VFV were measured by semi-automatic method starting at the upmost of the liver down to the lowermost of the pelvis. The capacity inside the muscle walls around abdominal cavity was used to measure intra- abdominal VFV. Calculations of subtracting the VFV from the total abdominal fat capacity will equal to the abdominal SFV. In the same way, the intra-abdominal visceral fat areas (VFA) and subcutaneous fat areas (SFA) were computed by the commercial AccuView software at the level of umbilical.
Results: VFV was correlated positively with VFA measured by the single-slice CT at the level of umbilicus in both genders (r=0.903, p<0.001 in men and r=0.786, p<0.001 in women). SFV also showed a positive correlation with SFA in both genders (r=0.835, p<0.001 in men and r=0.726, p<0.001 in women).
Conclusion: A new method in measuring the intra-abdominal fat capacities is achieved semi-automatically through helical CT.
Keywords : Visceral fat volume, Visceral fat area, Computed tomography
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