Brown Adipose Tissue Detected By Pet/Ct Imaging Is Associated With Less Central Obesity

Keywords

brown adipose tissue; brown fat; fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose; metabolic syndrome; obesity; PET/CT

Abstract

Purpose This retrospective review was performed to determine whether patients with brown adipose tissue (BAT) detected by fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) PET/computed tomography (CT) imaging have less central obesity than BMI-matched control patients without detectable BAT. Patients and methods Thirty-seven adult oncology patients with 18F-FDG BAT uptake were retrospectively identified from PET/CT studies from 2011 to 2013. The control cohort consisted of 74 adult oncology patients without detectable 18F-FDG BAT uptake matched for BMI/sex/season. Tissue fat content was estimated by CT density (Hounsfield units) with a subsequent noise removal step. Total fat and abdominal fat were calculated. An automated separation algorithm was utilized to determine the visceral fat and subcutaneous fat at the L4/L5 level. In addition, liver density was obtained from CT images. CT imaging was interpreted blinded to clinical information. Results There was no difference in total fat for the BAT cohort (34±15 l) compared with the controls (34±16 l) (P=0.96). The BAT cohort had lower abdominal fat to total fat ratio compared with the controls (0.28±0.05 vs. 0.31±0.08, respectively; P=0.01). The BAT cohort had a lower visceral fat/(visceral fat+subcutaneous fat) ratio compared with the controls (0.30±0.10 vs. 0.34±0.12, respectively; P=0.03). Patients with BAT had higher liver density, suggesting less liver fat, compared with the controls (51.3±7.5 vs. 47.1±7.0 HU, P=0.003). Conclusion The findings suggest that active BAT detected by 18F-FDG PET/CT is associated with less central obesity and liver fat. The presence of foci of BAT may be protective against features of the metabolic syndrome.

Publication Date

1-1-2017

Publication Title

Nuclear Medicine Communications

Volume

38

Issue

7

Number of Pages

629-635

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1097/MNM.0000000000000691

Socpus ID

85019618587 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85019618587

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