Objective: The purpose of the current study is to examine the reproducibility of CT measurement of the cross-sectional area of abdominal adipose tissue.
Design: Sixteen healthy pre-menopausal women, ranging from lean to obese, underwent duplicate cross-sectional CT scans of the abdomen at the level of the 4th lumbar vertebral disc space. Subjects stood after the initial scan and were then re-positioned prior to repeat 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 duplicate 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 subcutaneous AT area, and 3.9% for visceral AT area.
Conclusion: Measurement of abdominal AT area by cross-sectional CT scanning is not only an accurate determination of this adipose depot but can also be repeated with a high degree of precision.