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Updated: May 28, 2026

Clinical Anthropometrics and Body Composition from 3-Dimensional Optical Imaging
Published on: June 7, 2024
The advantages and limitations of cross-sectional body composition analysis
Alisdair J MacDonald1, Carolyn A Greig, Vickie Baracos
1Department of Clinical and Surgical Sciences (Surgery), University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Purpose Of Review:
Cross-sectional (C-S) imaging is now commonly used to measure body composition in clinical studies. This review highlights the advantages, limitations and suggested future directions for this technique.
Recent Findings:
Current understanding of C-S imaging reproducibility, tissue identification and segmentation methods, comparison between imaging techniques and estimates of whole body composition using a single image are described.
Summary:
C-S imaging can reliably measure muscle and fat distribution and uniquely discriminate between intra-abdominal organ and muscle component of fat-free mass. It precisely tracks changes within an individual, but is less able to distinguish true differences in whole body estimates between individuals.
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