Since the early part of the last century, scientists have tried to determine body composition in various ways with physical principles and devices, using different anthropometric measurements and assumptions.
Today, MRI is recognized as a golden standard for body composition analysis, enabling a more complete description of a person’s body composition profile from a single examination.
The precision of AMRA’s healthcare technology allows for the measure of volumetric changes, and diffuse fat infiltration into muscle, unlike other less accurate techniques such as BIA and DXA. AMRA’s service is platform-agnostic across the major 1.5 and 3T MR scanners, such that output across scanners is standardized and can be trusted.
AMRA is at the forefront of medical imaging, with the ability to measure multiple fat and muscle biomarkers providing body composition insights generated from a ground-breaking technology.
Data-driven decision making starts with tools and measurements you can trust.
Images are automatically calibrated and corrected for variations caused by inhomogeneities in magnetic field and coil sensitivity.[1] The calibration uses the fat signal as an internal reference. The value of each pixel in the fat image tells the percentage of fat in that pixel. Hence, partial-volume effects do not affect the quantification, and thin layers of fat or even diffuse infiltration will contribute to fat quantification, something that is not possible for methods based on simple segmentation between fatty and non-fatty regions.
AMRA has developed an automated method for the classification and quantification of fat and muscle groups.[2],[3],[4] The segmentation is based on non-rigid registration between the image data volume and a library of manually segmented prototype volumes.
The body fat is divided into subcutaneous, visceral, and ectopic compartments, and each depot is given with high precision. Different muscle groups are automatically classified and the volume of each individual muscle group is obtained. Additionally, the amount of fat in any user-defined region, e.g. a muscle or an internal organ, can be calculated also for diffuse fat infiltration.
AMRA’s fat quantification method was first used in the so-called “Fast-food study.”[5],[6] AMRA’s muscle quantification method was described and evaluated in other referenced studies. [7],[8]
A detailed understanding of body composition is vital for identifying and tracking health, metabolic status, diseases, and overall fitness.
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