Synopsis

The quantification of body adiposity and organ fat has become an important tool in physiology, obesity, and metabolism research. Proton-based MRI methods, namely chemical-shift-encoded water-fat imaging techniques, and the associated proton-density-fat-fraction biomarker, have emerged as popular methods in recent years. These techniques generate informative visualizations of regional and whole-body fat distributions, yield measurements of fat volumes within specific body depots, quantify fat accumulation in abdominal organs and muscles, and even estimate unsaturation levels of triglycerides in adipose tissue. In this presentation, a summary of mainstream fat quantification will be given, highlighting common clinical applications in longitudinal and cross-sectional studies.