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. 2022 May 24;6(1):25.
doi: 10.1186/s41747-022-00274-0.

Quantification of epicardial adipose tissue in obese patients using an open-bore MR scanner

Francesco Secchi  1   2 , Carmela Asteria  3 , Caterina B Monti  1 , Alexis Elias Malavazos  4   5 , Davide Capra  6 , Marco Alì  7   8 , Cecilia L A Giassi  3 , Simona Francesconi  3 , Sara Basilico  4 , Alessandro Giovanelli  3 , Lelio Morricone  4 , Francesco Sardanelli  1   2
Affiliations

Quantification of epicardial adipose tissue in obese patients using an open-bore MR scanner

Francesco Secchi et al. Eur Radiol Exp. .

Abstract

Background: Our aim was to evaluate the reproducibility of epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) volume, measured on scans performed using an open-bore magnetic resonance scanner.

Methods: Consecutive patients referred for bariatric surgery, aged between 18 and 65 years who agreed to undergo cardiac imaging (MRI), were prospectively enrolled. All those with cardiac pathology or contraindications to MRI were excluded. MRI was performed on a 1.0-T open-bore scanner, and EAT was segmented on all scans at both systolic and diastolic phase by two independent readers (R1 with four years of experience and R2 with one year). Data were reported as median and interquartile range; agreement and differences were appraised with Bland-Altman analyses and Wilcoxon tests, respectively.

Results: Fourteen patients, 11 females (79%) aged 44 (41-50) years, underwent cardiac MRI. For the first and second readings, respectively, EAT volume was 86 (78-95) cm3 and 85 (79-91) cm3 at systole and 82 (74-95) cm3 and 81 (75-94) cm3 at diastole for R1, and 89 (79-99) cm3 and 93 (84-98) cm3 at systole and 92 (85-103) cm3 and 93 (82-94) cm3 at diastole for R2. R1 had the best reproducibility at diastole (bias 0.3 cm3, standard deviation of the differences (SD) 3.3 cm3). R2 had the worst reproducibility at diastole (bias 3.9 cm3, SD 12.1 cm3). The only significant difference between systole and diastole was at the first reading by R1 (p = 0.016). The greatest bias was that of inter-reader reproducibility at diastole (-9.4 cm3).

Conclusions: Reproducibility was within clinically acceptable limits in most instances.

Keywords: Adipose tissue; Bariatric surgery; Heart; Magnetic resonance imaging; Reproducibility of results.

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Conflict of interest statement

Prof. Francesco Sardanelli has received research grants from and has been a member of the speakers’ bureau and of the advisory group for General Electric, Bayer and Bracco; he is a member of the scientific advisory board of DeepTrace Technologies S.R.L.; in addition, he is the Editor-in-Chief of European Radiology Experimental and for this reason, he was not involved in any way in the revision/decision process, which was handled by the Deputy Editr, Prof. Akos Varga-Szemes, Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina, USA.. The other authors of this manuscript declare no relationships with any companies whose products or services may be related to the subject matter of the article.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Segmentation of the pericardium (A) with subsequent subtraction of the epicardium (B) to obtain an estimate of epicardial adipose tissue volume in an image obtained from a cine sequence in short axis acquired on an open-bore MR scanner in a 44-year-old male patient referred for bariatric surgery
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Bland-Altman plots for intra-reader reproducibility of epicardial adipose tissue volume at systole and diastole for the two readers. Dashed lines represent 95% confidence intervals and are placed at ± 2 standard deviations. EAT, Epicardial adipose tissue; R1, Reader 1; R2, Reader 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Bland-Altman plots for inter-reader reproducibility of epicardial adipose tissue volume at systole and diastole. Dashed lines represent 95% confidence intervals and are placed at ± 2 standard deviations. EAT, Epicardial adipose tissue; R1, Reader 1; R2, Reader 2
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Bland-Altman plots for inter-phase reproducibility between systole and diastole of epicardial adipose tissue volume for the two readers. Dashed lines represent 95% confidence intervals and are placed at ± 2 standard deviations. EAT, Epicardial adipose tissue; R1, Reader 1; R2, Reader 2
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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