HELICAL COMPUTERIZED TOMOGRAPHY CAN MEASURE SUBCUTANEOUS, VISCERAL AND TOTAL FAT AREAS?

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Radiology
• Obesity Research

Background:

• Abdominal obesity, characterized by increased abdominal adipose tissue, is a significant risk factor for various health conditions.
• Computed tomography (CT) is a proposed method for quantifying abdominal fat area.

Purpose of the Study:

• To correlate obesity classifications with total, subcutaneous, and visceral fat areas.
• To analyze the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and abdominal fat distribution.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional observational study utilizing abdominal CT scans.
• Analysis of a single CT slice including the L4 vertebral body and umbilical scar.
• Measurement of total, visceral, and subcutaneous fat areas using Horos v3.3.5 software.

Main Results:

• Total fat area increased with higher obesity grades (II, III, and superobese).
• Subcutaneous fat area also increased with BMI progression.
• Visceral fat area did not show significant differences between obesity grades, with a trend towards lower averages in grade II obesity.

Conclusions:

• Total and subcutaneous fat areas increase with advancing BMI categories.
• Visceral fat area measurements did not demonstrate a similar increase across BMI groups.
• CT-based quantification of abdominal fat provides insights into obesity-related changes.