Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry is a valid method to estimatimate visceral adipose tissue in adult patients with Prader-Willi syndrome during treatment with growth hormone

Abstract

Context: Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) is established as a risk factor for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, but the radiation exposure and cost of computed tomography (CT) measurements limits its daily clinical use. Copyright Objective: The main objective of this study was to compare the degree of agreement between VAT measurements by a new dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) application and one of the standard methods, CT, in a population of patients with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) before and after GH treatment. Furthermore, we tested whether VAT estimations by these two methods are equivalent in assessing the metabolic risk in this population. Design and Patients: Data from the Norwegian population of a multicenter study in adults with genetically proven PWS were used. Subjects with complete anthropometry, biochemical, and imagistic measurements at all study visits (baseline and after 12 and 24 months of GH treatment) (n= 14, six men) were included. VAT was quantified both using CT scans (GE Lightspeed 16 Pro) of the abdomen at L2-L3 level and a total body DXA scan (GE Healthcare Lunar Prodigy). Results: VATDXAwas strongly associated with VAT CT at baseline (r=0.97) and after 12 (r=0.90) and 24 months (r=0.89) ofGHtreatment (all P