Aziz Hatim Poonawalla1, Ann Shimakawa2,
Huanzhou Yu2, Charles McKenzie3, Jean Brittain2,
Scott Reeder1,4
1Radiology, University of Wisconsin,
Madison, WI, United States; 2GE Healthcare, Waukesha, WI, United
States; 3Medical Biophysics, University of Western Ontario,
London, Ontario, Canada; 4Medical Physics, University of
Wisconsin, Madison, WI, United States
We
have demonstrated the capability to acquire high-spatial resolution 3D
volumetric images of the entire abdomen and pelvis, using a
highly-accelerated chemical-shift-based water-fat separation technique and a
32-channel coil at 3.0T. The high-quality fat and fat-fraction images
obtained by this technique provide unprecedented visualization and
delineation of the adipose depot boundaries, with sufficient spatial
resolution to allow 3D reformatting for optimal segmentation. This new
technique will greatly facilitate rapid quantitative assessment of visceral
adipose tissue volume, VAT/SCAT ratio, and total adipose volume within a
single-breath-hold acquisition without the need for ionizing radiation.