Analysis of volume and topography of adipose tissue in the trunk: Results of MRI of 11,141 participants in the German National Cohort

This research addresses the assessment of adipose tissue (AT) and spatial distribution of visceral (VAT) and sub-cutaneous fat (SAT) in the trunk from standardized magnetic resonance imaging at 3 T, thereby demonstrating the feasibility of deep learning (DL)-based image segmentation in a large population-based cohort in Germany (five sites). Volume and distribution of AT play an essential role in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance, a risk factor of developing metabolic/cardiovascular diseases. Cross-validated training of the DL-segmentation model led to a mean Dice similarity coefficient of >0.94, corresponding to a mean absolute volume deviation of about 22 ml. SAT is significantly increased in women compared to men, whereas VAT is increased in males. Spatial distribution shows age-and body mass index-related displacements. DL-based image segmentation provides robust and fast quantification of AT (approximate to 15 s per dataset versus 3 to 4 hours for manual processing) and assess-ment of its spatial distribution from magnetic resonance images in large cohort studies.