Body Fat MRS

Abstract

Dr E Louise Thomas obtained her PhD in vivo 13 C MRS from the University of London in 1996. She worked for many years at the Robert Steiner MRI Unit at the Hammersmith Hospital on the development and application of in vivo MR techniques to the study of adipose tissue composition, content and distribution. She has also worked extensively on the non-invasive study of ectopic fat, particularly liver fat and has published over 80 peerreviewed articles in this area. She has recently been appointed as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Westminster.Professor Jimmy D Bell completed his PhD in Biochemistry in 1987 (London). He has worked extensively on the development and application of in vivo MR techniques for the study of disease development, with especial focus on adipose tissue and liver metabolism. He joined the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre (Imperial College London) in the mid-1990s, where he was appointed Group Head. He recently moved to the University of Westminster to establish a new Research Centre for Optimal Health (ReCOH). He has published over 190 peer-reviewed papers and authored over a dozen chapters for scientific books.Keywords: body fat, adipose tissue, magnetic resonance imaging, magnetic resonance spectroscopy; bone marrow; visceral; subcutaneous; 2 AbstractThe increasing levels of obesity, and its associated co-morbidities, have prompted a reassessment of the techniques used for assessing body fat, including content, distribution and composition. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is amongst the many invaluable in vivo tools available today to evaluate the role of body fat in health and disease. However, although MRS has become a powerful technique for assessing ectopic fat in vivo, it has had limited use in other areas of research associated with body fat. MRS has found some success as a fast method to determine whole body adiposity in rodent models of disease, as well as a noninvasive method of obtaining an index of the overall composition of body fat in human subjects. Its more significant use has been in the understanding of bone marrow fat content, where important advances have been made, especially in longitudinal studies. In conclusion, in the area of body fat, MRS continues to be an adjunct technique to more precise and versatile MRI methods.