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Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine

Published in:

01-04-2017 | Research Article

Comparison of T1-weighted 2D TSE, 3D SPGR, and two-point 3D Dixon MRI for automated segmentation of visceral adipose tissue at 3 Tesla

Authors: Faezeh Fallah, Jürgen Machann, Petros Martirosian, Fabian Bamberg, Fritz Schick, Bin Yang

Published in: Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine | Issue 2/2017

Abstract

Objectives

To evaluate and compare conventional T1-weighted 2D turbo spin echo (TSE), T1-weighted 3D volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination (VIBE), and two-point 3D Dixon-VIBE sequences for automatic segmentation of visceral adipose tissue (VAT) volume at 3 Tesla by measuring and compensating for errors arising from intensity nonuniformity (INU) and partial volume effects (PVE).

Materials and methods

The body trunks of 28 volunteers with body mass index values ranging from 18 to 41.2 kg/m² (30.02 ± 6.63 kg/m²) were scanned at 3 Tesla using three imaging techniques. Automatic methods were applied to reduce INU and PVE and to segment VAT. The automatically segmented VAT volumes obtained from all acquisitions were then statistically and objectively evaluated against the manually segmented (reference) VAT volumes.

Results

Comparing the reference volumes with the VAT volumes automatically segmented over the uncorrected images showed that INU led to an average relative volume difference of −59.22 ± 11.59, 2.21 ± 47.04, and −43.05 ± 5.01 % for the TSE, VIBE, and Dixon images, respectively, while PVE led to average differences of −34.85 ± 19.85, −15.13 ± 11.04, and −33.79 ± 20.38 %. After signal correction, differences of −2.72 ± 6.60, 34.02 ± 36.99, and −2.23 ± 7.58 % were obtained between the reference and the automatically segmented volumes. A paired-sample two-tailed t test revealed no significant difference between the reference and automatically segmented VAT volumes of the corrected TSE (p = 0.614) and Dixon (p = 0.969) images, but showed a significant VAT overestimation using the corrected VIBE images.

Conclusion

Under similar imaging conditions and spatial resolution, automatically segmented VAT volumes obtained from the corrected TSE and Dixon images agreed with each other and with the reference volumes. These results demonstrate the efficacy of the signal correction methods and the similar accuracy of TSE and Dixon imaging for automatic volumetry of VAT at 3 Tesla.

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Title: Comparison of T1-weighted 2D TSE, 3D SPGR, and two-point 3D Dixon MRI for automated segmentation of visceral adipose tissue at 3 Tesla
Authors: Faezeh Fallah
Jürgen Machann
Petros Martirosian
Fabian Bamberg
Fritz Schick
Bin Yang
Publication date: 01-04-2017
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine / Issue 2/2017
Print ISSN: 0968-5243
Electronic ISSN: 1352-8661
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10334-016-0588-6

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

Springer Medicine

Comparison of T1-weighted 2D TSE, 3D SPGR, and two-point 3D Dixon MRI for automated segmentation of visceral adipose tissue at 3 Tesla

Abstract

Objectives

Materials and methods

Results

Conclusion

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Objectives

Materials and methods

Results

Conclusion

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