REPRODUCIBILITY OF COMPUTED-TOMOGRAPHY MEASUREMENT OF VISCERAL ADIPOSE-TISSUE AREA

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the current study is to examine the reproduc ibility of CT measurement of the cross-sectional area of abdominal adi pose tissue. DESIGN: Sixteen healthy pre-menopausal women, ranging fro m lean to obese, underwent duplicate cross-sectional CT scans of the a bdomen at the level of the 4th lumbar vertebral disc space. Subjects s tood after the initial scan and were then re-positioned prior to repea t CT scanning. RESULTS: There was a high degree of reproducibility in measurement of overall cross-sectional adipose tissue (AT) and in the partitioning of this into subcutaneous and visceral AT. The excellent reproducibility is demonstrated by a high correlation between duplicat e measurements (r = 0.99, P < 0.01), and by small precision errors; 1. 2% of the mean value for total AT cross-sectional area, 1.9% for subcu taneous AT area, and 3.9% for visceral AT area. CONCLUSION: Measuremen t of abdominal AT area by cross-sectional CT scanning is not only an a ccurate determination of this adipose depot but can also be repeated w ith a high degree of precision.