Introduction. An increasing number of studies are utilizing different magnetic resonance (MR) methods to quantify bone marrow fat due to its potential role in osteoporosis. Our aim is to compare the measurements of bone marrow fat among T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), modified Dixon method (also called fat fraction MRI (FFMRI)), and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Methods. Contiguous MRI scans were acquired in 27 Caucasian postmenopausal women with a modified Dixon method (i.e., FFMRI). Bone marrow adipose tissue (BMAT) of T1-weighted MRI and bone marrow fat fraction of the L3 vertebra and femoral necks were quantified using SliceOmatic and Matlab. MRS was also acquired at the L3 vertebra. Results. Correlation among the three MR methods measured bone marrow fat fraction and BMAT ranges from 0.78 to 0.88 in the L3 vertebra. Correlation between BMAT measured by T1-weighted MRI and bone marrow fat fraction measured by modified FFMRI is 0.86 in femoral necks. Conclusion. There are good correlations among T1-weighted MRI, FFMRI, and MRS for bone marrow fat quantification. The inhomogeneous distribution of bone marrow fat, the threshold segmentation of the T1-weighted MRI, and the ambiguity of the FFMRI may partially explain the difference among the three methods. 1. Introduction Recent studies revealed a negative relationship between bone marrow fat and bone mineral density [1–10]. These studies, along with the cellular level evidences [6, 11–13], suggest that bone marrow fat might play a role in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis [7, 12, 14]. Previous studies have used different methods to measure bone marrow fat. Among the magnetic resonance methods, there are T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), and Dixon method. Each method has its comparative strengths and weaknesses. The T1-weighted MRI is a conventional practice that is familiar to all MR technologists and is therefore not technically demanding in terms of acquisition. T1-weighted MRI also requires less acquisition time than the Dixon method. The Dixon method, also called the water-fat imaging method, fat-water imaging method, or fat fraction MRI (FFMRI), represents a category of magnetic resonance methods that generates water and fat images. So far, there is no consensus on the naming of this group of methods, and for consistency’s sake we use FFMRI in the present paper. MRS methods are considered the golden standard in measuring tissue fat but require the technician to prescribe the volume of interest—MRS box in the exact desired
References
[1]
W. Shen, R. Scherzer, M. Gantz, et al., “Relationship between MRI-measured bone marrow adipose tissue and hip and spine bone mineral density in African-American and Caucasian participants: the CARDIA study,” The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, vol. 97, no. 4, pp. 1337–1346, 2012.
[2]
W. Shen, J. Chen, M. Gantz, et al., “Ethnic and sex differences in bone marrow adipose tissue and bone mineral density relationship,” Osteoporosis International, vol. 23, no. 9, pp. 2293–2301, 2012.
[3]
W. Shen, J. Chen, M. Gantz, et al., “MRI-measured pelvic bone marrow adipose tissue is inversely related to DXA-measured bone mineral in younger and older adults,” European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 66, no. 9, pp. 983–988, 2012.
[4]
W. Shen, J. Chen, M. Punyanitya, S. Shapses, S. Heshka, and S. B. Heymsfield, “MRI-measured bone marrow adipose tissue is inversely related to DXA-measured bone mineral in Caucasian women,” Osteoporosis International, vol. 18, no. 5, pp. 641–647, 2007.
[5]
D. Schellinger, C. S. Lin, D. Fertikh et al., “Normal lumbar vertebrae: anatomic, age, and sex variance in subjects at proton MR spectroscopy—initial experience,” Radiology, vol. 215, no. 3, pp. 910–916, 2000.
[6]
D. Schellinger, C. S. Lin, H. G. Hatipoglu, and D. Fertikh, “Potential value of vertebral proton MR spectroscopy in determining bone weakness,” American Journal of Neuroradiology, vol. 22, no. 8, pp. 1620–1627, 2001.
[7]
T. T. Shih, C. J. Chang, C. Y. Hsu, S. Y. Wei, K. C. Su, and H. W. Chung, “Correlation of bone marrow lipid water content with bone mineral density on the lumbar spine,” Spine, vol. 29, no. 24, pp. 2844–2850, 2004.
[8]
J. F. Griffith, D. K. W. Yeung, G. E. Antonio et al., “Vertebral bone mineral density, marrow perfusion, and fat content in healthy men and men with osteoporosis: dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging and MR spectroscopy,” Radiology, vol. 236, no. 3, pp. 945–951, 2005.
[9]
N. Di Iorgi, A. O. Mo, K. Grimm, T. A. L. Wren, F. Dorey, and V. Gilsanz, “Bone acquisition in healthy young females is reciprocally related to marrow adiposity,” The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, vol. 95, no. 6, pp. 2977–2982, 2010.
[10]
N. Di Iorgi, M. Rosol, S. D. Mittelman, and V. Gilsanz, “Reciprocal relation between marrow adiposity and the amount of bone in the axial and appendicular skeleton of young adults,” The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, vol. 93, no. 6, pp. 2281–2286, 2008.
[11]
D. J. Rickard, M. Kassem, T. E. Hefferan, G. Sarkar, T. C. Spelsberg, and B. L. Riggs, “Isolation and characterization of osteoblast precursor cells from human bone marrow,” Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 312–324, 1996.
[12]
J. N. Beresford, J. H. Bennett, C. Devlin, P. S. Leboy, and M. E. Owen, “Evidence for an inverse relationship between the differentiation of adipocytic and osteogenic cells in rat marrow stromal cell cultures,” Journal of Cell Science, vol. 102, no. 2, pp. 341–351, 1992.
[13]
J. M. Gimble, C. E. Robinson, X. Wu, and K. A. Kelly, “The function of adipocytes in the bone marrow stroma: an update,” Bone, vol. 19, no. 5, pp. 421–428, 1996.
[14]
F. W. Wehrli, J. A. Hopkins, S. N. Hwang, H. K. Song, P. J. Snyder, and J. G. Haddad, “Cross-sectional study of osteopenia with quantitative MRI imaging and bone densitometry,” Radiology, vol. 217, no. 2, pp. 527–538, 2000.
[15]
B. C. Vande Berg, J. Malghem, F. E. Lecouvet, and B. Maldague, “Magnetic resonance imaging of normal bone marrow,” European Radiology, vol. 8, no. 8, pp. 1327–1334, 1998.
[16]
H. K. Hussain, T. L. Chenevert, F. J. Londy et al., “Hepatic fat fraction: MR imaging for quantitative measurement and display—early experience,” Radiology, vol. 237, no. 3, pp. 1048–1055, 2005.
[17]
W. Shen, R. Scherzer, M. Gantz, et al., “Relationship between MRI-Measured Bone Marrow Adipose Tissue and Hip and Spine Bone Mineral Density in African-American and Caucasian Participants: The CARDIA Study,” The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, vol. 97, no. 4, pp. 1337–1346, 2012.
[18]
A. Bosy-Westphal, W. Later, B. Schautz et al., “Impact of intra- and extra-osseous soft tissue composition on changes in bone mineral density with weight loss and regain,” Obesity, vol. 19, no. 7, pp. 1503–1510, 2011.
[19]
K. Casazza, L. J. Hanks, B. Hidalgo, H. H. Hu, and O. Affuso, “Short-term physical activity intervention decreases femoral marrow adipose tissue in young children: a pilot study,” Bone, vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 23–27, 2012.
[20]
W. Shen, J. Chen, M. Punyanitya, S. Shapses, S. Heshka, and S. B. Heymsfield, “MRI-measured bone marrow adipose tissue is inversely related to DXA-measured bone mineral in Caucasian women,” Osteoporosis International, vol. 18, no. 5, pp. 641–647, 2007.
[21]
W. Shen, R. Peethala, J. Chen, and M. Punyanitya, “Comparison among T1-weighted MRI, modified dixon method, and MRS in measuring bone marrow fat,” in International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine Workshop on Fat-Water Separation: Insights, Applications & Progress in MRI, Long Beach, CA, USA, 2012.
[22]
J. F. Griffith, D. K. W. Yeung, G. E. Antonio et al., “Vertebral marrow fat content and diffusion and perfusion indexes in women with varying bone density: MR evaluation,” Radiology, vol. 241, no. 3, pp. 831–838, 2006.
[23]
“NIST/SEMATECH e-Handbook of Statistical Methods,” September 2004, http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/eda/section3/eda336.htm.
[24]
W. Shen, Z. M. Wang, M. Punyanita et al., “Adipose tissue quantification by imaging methods: a proposed classification,” Obesity Research, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 5–16, 2003.
[25]
H. Kim, S. E. Taksali, S. Dufour et al., “Comparative MR study of hepatic fat quantification using single-voxel proton spectroscopy, two-point Dixon and three-point IDEAL,” Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, vol. 59, no. 3, pp. 521–527, 2008.
[26]
Q. S. Xiang, “Two-point water-fat imaging with partially-opposed-phase (POP) acquisition: an asymmetric dixon method,” Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, vol. 56, no. 3, pp. 572–584, 2006.
[27]
S. Meisamy, C. D. G. Hines, G. Hamilton et al., “Quantification of hepatic steatosis with T1-independent, T2*-corrected MR imaging with spectral modeling of fat: blinded comparison with MR spectroscopy,” Radiology, vol. 258, no. 3, pp. 767–775, 2011.
[28]
N. Abate, D. Burns, R. M. Peshock, A. Garg, and S. M. Grundy, “Estimation of adipose tissue mass by magnetic resonance imaging: validation against dissection in human cadavers,” Journal of Lipid Research, vol. 35, no. 8, pp. 1490–1496, 1994.
[29]
N. Mitsiopoulos, R. N. Baumgartner, S. B. Heymsfield, W. Lyons, D. Gallagher, and R. Ross, “Cadaver validation of skeletal muscle measurement by magnetic resonance imaging and computerized tomography,” Journal of Applied Physiology, vol. 85, no. 1, pp. 115–122, 1998.
[30]
J. B. Albu, A. J. Kovera, L. Allen et al., “Independent association of insulin resistance with larger amounts of intermuscular adipose tissue and a greater acute insulin response to glucose in African American than in white nondiabetic women,” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 82, no. 6, pp. 1210–1217, 2005.
[31]
P. Brambilla, G. Bedogni, L. A. Moreno et al., “Crossvalidation of anthropometry against magnetic resonance imaging for the assessment of visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue in children,” International Journal of Obesity, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 23–30, 2006.
[32]
I. Janssen and R. Ross, “Effects of sex on the change in visceral, subcutaneous adipose tissue and skeletal muscle in response to weight loss,” International Journal of Obesity, vol. 23, no. 10, pp. 1035–1046, 1999.
[33]
R. Ross, L. Leger, D. Morris, J. De Guise, and R. Guardo, “Quantification of adipose tissue by MRI: relationship with anthropometric variables,” Journal of Applied Physiology, vol. 72, no. 2, pp. 787–795, 1992.
[34]
S. Owens, M. Litaker, J. Allison, S. Riggs, M. Ferguson, and B. Gutin, “Prediction of visceral adipose tissue from simple anthropometric measurements in youths with obesity,” Obesity Research, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 16–22, 1999.
[35]
C. Grunfeld, D. Rimland, C. L. Gibert et al., “Association of upper trunk and visceral adipose tissue volume with insulin resistance in control and HIV-infected subjects in the FRAM study,” Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, vol. 46, no. 3, pp. 283–290, 2007.
[36]
E. W. Demerath, S. S. Sun, N. Rogers et al., “Anatomical patterning of visceral adipose tissue: race, sex, and age variation,” Obesity, vol. 15, no. 12, pp. 2984–2993, 2007.
