MRI Identifies unseen Fat; that can put disease to Adolescents

March 12, 2007 |17:58 | By : Waqar Ikram

Single-slice magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a fast, non-invasive way to measure intra-abdominal fat, which when excessive, may put children and teenagers at risk for developing heart disease, diabetes and other illnesses. Unlike the fat that lies just beneath the abdominal wall, forming skin folds or "love handles," internal fat located in and around the abdominal organs may actually be more damaging, predisposing children to adult diseases. Current methods used to estimate body fat include anthropometry, which involves physical measurements including waist circumference, abdominal height and body mass index, and dual energy absorptiometry (DEXA), a whole-body scan that distinguishes lean mass from fat tissue. However, anthropometry is imprecise and DEXA requires exposure to ionizing radiation. The single-slice and multi-slice MRI measurements were compared and tested for correlations with anthropometric and DEXA measurements.

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