Original Article

International Journal of Obesity (2009) 33, 226–232; doi:10.1038/ijo.2008.267; published online 13 January 2009

Novel measurements of periaortic adipose tissue in comparison to anthropometric measures of obesity, and abdominal adipose tissue

C L Schlett1, J M Massaro2, S J Lehman1, F Bamberg1, C J O'Donnell3,4, C S Fox3,5,6 and U Hoffmann1,6

  1. 1Cardiac MR PET CT Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
  2. 2Department of Mathematics, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
  3. 3National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA
  4. 4Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
  5. 5Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Diabetes, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

Correspondence: Professor U Hoffmann, Cardiac MR PET CT Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 165 Cambridge St, Suite 400, Boston, MA 02114, USA. E-mail: uhoffmann@partners.org

6These authors contributed equally to the work.

Received 15 May 2008; Revised 20 October 2008; Accepted 9 November 2008; Published online 13 January 2009.

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Abstract

Background:

 

Perivascular adipose tissue may be associated with the amount of local atherosclerosis. We developed a novel and reproducible method to standardize volumetric quantification of periaortic adipose tissue by computed tomography (CT) and determined the association with anthropometric measures of obesity, and abdominal adipose tissue.

Methods:

 

Measurements of adipose tissue were performed in a random subset of participants from the Framingham Heart Study (n=100) who underwent multidetector CT of the thorax (ECG triggering, 2.5 mm slice thickness) and the abdomen (helical CT acquisition, 2.5 mm slice thickness). Abdominal periaortic adipose tissue (AAT) was defined by a 5 mm cylindrical region of interest around the aortic wall; thoracic periaortic adipose tissue (TAT) was defined by anatomic landmarks. TAT and AAT were defined as any voxel between -195 and -45 HU and volumes were measured using dedicated semiautomatic software. Measurement reproducibility and association with anthropometric measures of obesity, and abdominal adipose tissue were determined.

Results:

 

The intra- and inter-observer reproducibility for both AAT and TAT was excellent (ICC: 0.97 and 0.97; 0.99 and 0.98, respectively). Similarly, the relative intra- and inter-observer difference was small for both AAT (-1.85plusminus1.28% and 7.85plusminus6.08%; respectively) and TAT (3.56plusminus0.83% and -4.56plusminus0.85%, respectively). Both AAT and TAT were highly correlated with visceral abdominal fat (r=0.65 and 0.77, P<0.0001 for both) and moderately correlated with subcutaneous abdominal fat (r=0.39 and 0.42, P<0.0001 and P=0.009), waist circumference (r=0.49 and 0.57, P<0.0001 for both) and body mass index (r=0.47 and 0.58, P<0.0001 for both).

Conclusion:

 

Standardized semiautomatic CT-based volumetric quantification of periaortic adipose tissue is feasible and highly reproducible. Further investigation is warranted regarding associations of periaortic adipose tissue with other body fat deposits, cardiovascular risk factors and clinical outcomes.

Keywords:

adipose tissue, intra-abdominal fat, tomography, spiral computed, Framingham Heart Study, metabolic risk factors

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