富沢 昌弘¹, 蔵本 裕一¹, 富沢 青子¹, 松本 桂子¹, 東 義孝²

Masahiro TOMIZAWA¹, Yuichi KURAMOTO¹, Seiko TOMIZAWA¹, Keiko MATSUMOTO¹, Yoshitaka HIGASHI²

¹福岡大学医学部健康管理科, ²安永病院

¹Department of Health Care and Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, Fukuoka University, ²Yasunaga Hospital

キーワード : Obesity, Ultrasonography, Visceral, Fat, Fat Distribution, Computed Tomography

To evaluate the accuracy of ultrasonography in the measurement of the abdominal visceral fat, the thicknesses of abdominal visceral fat and abdominal subcutaneous fat in a group of 41 obese subjects with a mean body mass index of 26.8±3.4 and a mean age of 49.5±8.9 were measured by ultrasonography and X-ray CT. subcutaneous fat thickness was measured along the median line (S₁) and left mid-axillary line (S₂) to the level of umbilicus, and visceral fat thickness from abdominal muscle to lumbar vertebrae (V₁ and V₂) was measured at the same sites by ultrasound. We named the ratio of visceral fat thickness (V₁+V₂)/subcutaneous fat thickness (S₁+S₂) as the “Ultrasonic Visceral Fat Index (UVI).”. In a comparison of the ratio of visceral fat area/subcutaneous fat area (V/S ratio) X-ray CT in 41 subjects, UVI showed a significant and positive correlation (r=0.73, P<0.01) with V/S ratio. Of the 35 subjects who were diagnosed as visceral fat obesity by their high V/S ratio (>0.4), 33 subjects (94.3%) also demonstrated high UVI (>3.0). In conclusion, the ultsasonographic measurement of abdominal visceral fat accumulation using UVI is a simple, noninvasive, and precise method, as is the V/S ratio by X-ray CT.