Magnetic resonance imaging based determination of body compartments with the versatile, interactive sparse sampling ( VISS ) method

Purpose: To investigate the inhomogeneity of radiofrequency fields at higher field strengths that can interfere with established volumetric methods, in particular for the determination of visceral ( VAT ) and subcutaneous adipose tissue ( SCAT ). A versatile, interactive sparse sampling ( VISS ) method is proposed to determine VAT, SCAT, and also total body volume (TBV). Materials and Methods: VISS is based on a separation of major components by contour lines, followed by a sparse sampling algorithm, and eventually a quick manual correction. T1‐weighted whole body scans of 24 subjects were evaluated (12 at 1.5T, 12 at 3.0T). Results: (a) Coefficients of variance (CV) and intra class correlation coefficients ( ICC ) determined within 3 raters (24 subjects) showed high consistency for SCAT (CV 2.2%, ICC 0.993) and VAT (CV 4.9%, ICC 0.987), (b) comparison with an established volumetric method revealed good agreement (Bland‐Altman, VAT −0.68L to 1.07L, SCAT −2.18L to 8.39L), and (c) comparison of weights calculated from TBV with values measured on a scale resulted in an even better accuracy for VISS (Bland‐Altman −1.98 kg to 4.09 kg) than for the reference method (−5.60 kg to 1.60 kg). Conclusion: VISS is reproducible in particular within the same rater, accurate as compared with established methods, and robust against low contrast and inhomogeneity artifacts. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2012;36:951–960. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.