Change in abdominal, but not femoral subcutaneous fat CT-radiodensity is associated with improved metabolic profile after bariatric surgery

Abstract Background and Aims Computed tomography (CT)-derived adipose tissue radiodensity represents a potential noninvasive surrogate marker for lipid deposition and obesity-related metabolic disease risk. We studied the effects of bariatric surgery CT-derived adipose radiodensities in abdominal and femoral areas and their relationships to circulating metabolites in morbidly obese patients Methods and Results We examined 23 morbidly obese women who underwent CT imaging before and 6 months after bariatric surgery. Fifteen healthy non-obese women served as controls. Radiodensities of the abdominal subcutaneous (SAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT), and the femoral SAT, adipose tissue masses were measured in all participants. Circulating metabolites were measured by NMR. At baseline, radiodensities of abdominal fat depots were lower in the obese patients as compared to the controls. Surprisingly, radiodensity of femoral SAT was higher in the obese as compared to the controls. In the abdominal SAT depot, radiodensity strongly correlated with SAT volume (r =-0.72, p Conclusion Higher lipid content in abdominal fat depots and lower in femoral subcutaneous fat constitute prominent pathophysiological features in morbid obesity. Further studies are needed to clarify the role of non-abdominal subcutaneous fat in the pathogenesis of obesity. Clinical Trial Registration number NCT01373892.