Noninvasive assessment of abdominal adipose tissues and quantification of hepatic and pancreatic fat fractions in type 2 diabetes mellitus

Manoj Kumar Sarma, Andres Saucedo, Christine Hema Darwin, Ely Richard Felker, Kavya Umachandran, Daniel Kohanghadosh, Edward Xu, Steve Raman, Michael Albert Thomas

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate adipose tissue distributions and hepatic and pancreatic fat contents using a 6-point Dixon MRI technique in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and to assess associations between fat distributions and biochemical markers of insulin resistance. Intra-abdominal MRI was investigated in 14 T2DM patients, 13 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HC) and 11 young HC using a 3 T Prisma MRI scanner. All T2DM subjects completed a fasting comprehensive metabolic panel, and demographic measurements were taken according to standardized methodologies. We observed excellent correlation (R2 = 0.94) between hepatic fat fraction quantified using 6-point Dixon MRI and gold standard MRS, establishing the accuracy and reliability of the Dixon technique. Significantly increased visceral adipose tissue (VAT) volumes were found in T2DM patients compared to age-matched HC (1569.81 ± 670.62 cm3 vs. 1106.60 ± 566.85 cm3, p = .04). We also observed a trend of increasing subcutaneous adipose tissues (SAT), and total abdominal fat (TAT) volumes in T2DM compared to age-matched HC. Hepatic fat fraction percentage (HFF%) was 44.6% higher in T2DM compared to age-matched HC and 64.4% higher compared to young HC. Pancreatic fat fractions in the head and body/tail were higher in T2DM patients compared to both healthy cohorts. We also observed correlations between fat contents of the liver and pancreas in T2DM patients, and association between biochemical markers of T2DM with HFF, indicating a risk for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease among T2DM. In summary, this study provides evidence of T2DM patients having increased liver and pancreatic fat, as well as increased adipose tissues.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)95-102
Number of pages8
JournalMagnetic Resonance Imaging
Volume72
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2020
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Abdominal fat
  • Adipose tissue
  • Dixon
  • Hepatic fat fraction
  • MRI
  • T2DM

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biophysics
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging

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