Research

Mixed

Computed Tomography (CT) mean muscle attenuation (MA) is significantly correlated with intramyocellular lipid (IMCL) measured by Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) in the soleus muscle, validating CT as a reliable proxy for assessing intramuscular triglyceride stores.

For clinical or research purposes, CT scans can be used to estimate intramuscular fat levels by measuring muscle attenuation, providing a reliable alternative to more complex MRS techniques. This is particularly useful for assessing insulin resistance risk in sedentary, overweight, or obese populations.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
MA of soleus was significantly associated with IMCL (r = -0.64)... These results support the use of both CT and MRS as reliable methods for assessing skeletal muscle lipid.
D. Enette Larson‐Meyer et al. · Obesity · 2006

Why this rating

Study uses a robust sample size (n=51), multiple muscle groups, and cross-validates two distinct imaging modalities with high reliability metrics.

Source

Muscle‐associated Triglyceride Measured by Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

D. Enette Larson‐Meyer et al. · Obesity · 2006

DOI 10.1038/oby.2006.10

cross_sectional · n=51Cited 110×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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