Key result
MRI provides non-invasive quantitative markers to assess adipose tissue as an active endocrine organ.
Why the study?
Underlying phenomena in human adipose tissue were difficult to monitor non-invasively through visual inspection of standard imaging modalities.
This review summarizes MRI methodologies and quantitative markers used to non-invasively monitor adipose tissue physiology and pathology.
MRI supports non-invasive adipose research; leaves open clinical adoption pending prospective validation.
MRI is the modality of choice for a vast range of pathologies but also a sensitive probe into human physiology and tissue function. For this reason, several methodologies have been developed and continuously evolve in order to non-invasively monitor underlying phenomena in human adipose tissue that were difficult to assess in the past through visual inspection of standard imaging modalities. To this end, this work describes the imaging methodologies used in medical practice and lists the most important quantitative markers related to adipose tissue physiology and pathology that are currently supporting diagnosis, longitudinal evaluation and patient management decisions. The underlying physical principles and the resulting markers are presented and associated with frequently encountered pathologies in radiology in order to set the frame of the ability of MRI to reveal the complex role of adipose tissue, not as an inert tissue but as an active endocrine organ.
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Nikiforaki et al. (2023) conducted a review in Adipose tissue physiology and pathology. MRI methods was evaluated. MRI provides non-invasive methodologies and quantitative markers to visualize and assess adipose tissue physiology and pathology, revealing its complex role as an active endocrine organ.
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