Jan Stefan Bauer MD, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Peter B. Noel MS, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Christiane Vollhardt PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Ellen Heimberg MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Hans Hauner MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Ernst J. Rummeny MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Mean birth weight and body fat mass growth in the first year of life have increased continuously over the last decades. Both elevated birth weight and early fat mass are risk factors for childhood obesity. Reproducible measures are needed to evaluate body fat non-invasively in observational studies. MR might be well suited, in particular with recent developments in sequence design.

Whole body MR was obtained in 35 sleeping young infants (average age 56 days, 22-109). Scans consisted of a conventional turbo spin echo (TSE) sequence with water suppression (ws), and a Periodically Rotated Overlapping ParallEL Lines with Enhanced Reconstruction (PROPELLER) wsTSE sequence. Each sequence was repeated three times in four infants for reproducibility measurements. In nine infants a Half Fourier Acquisition Single Shot Turbo Spin Echo (HASTE) sequence was acquired of the trunk. Whole body adipose tissue (wba) volume was quantified using a semiautomatic threshold-based as well as an optimized automatic segmentation.

Whole body acquisition was achieved in 5min using the conventional TSE sequence, resulting in a voxel size of 0.9x0.9x5.5mm3 and a reproducibility error for wba of 4.7% and 6.8% using the semiautomatic and automatic segmentation, respectively. The segmentation of one dataset consisting of 100 slices took about 20 minutes for the semiautomatic segmentation and about 4 minutes in case of the automatic segmentation. Using the PROPELLER sequence, acquisition time increased to 8:40min, using a voxel size of 1.1x1.1x6mm3, but reduced the reproducibility error to 3.0% and 3.8% using the semiautomatic and automatic segmentation, respectively. Due to inconsistent noise of the HASTE sequence, half of the infants awoke during the scan.

With both conventional and PROPELLER wsTSE sequences a reproducible measure of wba was achieved. The highest reproducibility was achieved using the PROPELLER sequence with semiautomatic segmentation.

Whole body MR imaging constitutes a reproducible method for quantification of body adipose tissue, what might be useful in particular for developmental studies.

Bauer, J, Noel, P, Vollhardt, C, Heimberg, E, Hauner, H, Rummeny, E, Measurement of Adipose Tissue in Young Infants by Whole Body MR.  Radiological Society of North America 2010 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, November 28 - December 3, 2010 ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2010/9012441.html