A simple and reproducible measure of adipose depots with non-contrast post-mortem computed tomography

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Moore, M
Moharram, M
Poon, A
Tse, R
Aitken-buck, HM
Lamberts, RS
Coffey, S
Griffith University Author(s)
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2022
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Abstract

Background and aim: Obesity is associated with an increase in different adipose depots. The anatomic distribution of internal adipose confers different risks. Recently, significant interest has emerged in the expansion of epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) as a mediator of adverse cardiovascular events. Often, post-mortem examination remains the best method of investigating morphological changes in health and disease. This study aimed to develop a simple, reproducible, and non-invasive protocol for the measurement of internal adiposity using post-mortem computed tomography (PMCT). Patients and methods: 101 consecutive post-mortem subjects underwent non-contrast computed tomography scans. Measurements were performed using the open-source software 3D Slicer by a non-expert researcher. An expert radiologist and cardiologist verified the abdominal and cardiac sites of adiposity, respectively. We aimed to develop a protocol to measure total EAT, sub-depots of EAT, extra-pericardial adipose, visceral and subcutaneous adipose, and suprasternal adipose. Results: We found excellent reproducibility for our measures of total EAT, anterior right atrial EAT, extra-pericardial adipose, and visceral adipose tissue, with intraclass correlations between 0.82 and 0.99 for each measure. Due to a lack of suitable anatomical boundaries, other sub-depots of EAT, including in the interventricular groove, were not reproducible. Conclusions: Quantification of total EAT and anterior right atrial EAT are readily reproducible using 3D Slicer on post-mortem CT. They can be reliably measured by non-expert researchers with a small amount of training, and therefore be used to investigate morphological changes in adiposity in health and disease.

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Imaging

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14

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2

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© 2022 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial purposes, provided the original author and source are credited, a link to the CC License is provided, and changes – if any – are indicated.

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Biomedical imaging

Metabolic medicine

Biomedical and clinical sciences

Science & Technology

Life Sciences & Biomedicine

Medicine, General & Internal

General & Internal Medicine

BODY-MASS INDEX

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Moore, M; Moharram, M; Poon, A; Tse, R; Aitken-buck, HM; Lamberts, RS; Coffey, S, A simple and reproducible measure of adipose depots with non-contrast post-mortem computed tomography, Imaging, 2022, 14 (2), pp. 89-98

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