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Free keywords:
Imaging; MRI; Ultrasound; Nuclear medicine; Obesity; Spectroscopy; Functional MR; Radiotracer
Abstract:
Magnetic resonance of the body offers different techniques for
mapping fat deposits (MR Imaging) and analysis of organs with
small amounts of lipids (MR Spectroscopy). Possible approaches
for whole-body assessment of adipose tissue are presented and
discussed and spectroscopic examinations in different organs are
depicted. With magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) it has been
shown that obesity per se is not a marker for metabolic failure, but
depends on regional variations of body composition and ectopic
lipid accumulation. In addition MRI of the brain is a powerful
research tool to understand the brain’s role in the development
and maintenance of obesity and the overconsumption of foods in
obese individuals. Sonography has a low accuracy in estimating hepatic steatosis until now. New sonographic methods have been evaluated to
detect hepatic steatosis by physical properties of fatty tissue as
tissue stiffness, sound absorption or sound speed.
Nuclear medicine and in particular PET methods are used to
explore central pathophysiology, brown adipose tissue activity and alterations in homeostatic feedback and gut-brain communication.
