Rapid Automated Measurement of Body Fat Tissue from Whole Body MRI

Objective The purpose of this article is to determine the feasibility of using computer assisted diagnosis (CAD) techniques to automatically identify, localize, and measure body fat tissue from a rapid wholebody MRI examination Design Prospective investigative study. Setting Dublin, Ireland. Participants 42 volunteers (21 male, 21 female) aged 18 to 56. The study group consisted of healthy volunteers with a wide range of body weights, and included a cohort of high performance athletes. Main outcome measures The provision of an automated system, which assesses subjects’ whole body MRI scans and which provides numerical and visual feedback to illustrate the findings. The system generates results in a matter of minutes allowing for an initial assessment to be performed immediately following the completion of an MRI scan. By highlighting areas where body fat is concentrated the system allows radiologists to quickly identify and examine regions of interest in the scan. Results Rapid, accurate, and reproducible delineation of body fat distribution can be obtained using whole body MRI techniques and Computer Aided Diagnosis. Conclusions Whole-body MRI in conjunction with CAD allows a fast, automatic, and accurate approach to body fat measurement and localization and can be a useful alternative to body mass index. Whole-body fat analysis can be achieved in less than 5 min.