Archiva

The body fat content was assessed in visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue areas using a 3.0 T clinical MRI scanner (Archiva, Philips Medical System, Amsterdam, The Netherlands). The standard array coils were used, and the MRI scans were performed by experienced radiologists who were blinded to the intervention groups and laboratory findings. The MRI scans were conducted at the abdominal level between the L4 and L5 vertebrae in the supine position. Segmentation of the images into the VFA and SFA was performed by two trained investigators using the SliceOmatic image analysis software (version 4.2; Tomovision Inc., Montreal, QC, Canada).

All anthropometric indices and biochemical measurements were collected at baseline and during follow-up. Height, weight, WC, and resting blood pressure were measured using standardized methods [8 (link)]. BMI was calculated as weight (kg)/height² (m²). NC was measured with the subject standing and the head in the horizontal plane position. The measuring tape was positioned around the inferior margin of the laryngeal prominence and perpendicular to the long axis of the neck. The change in NC (%) was calculated as (NC at follow-up − NC at baseline)/NC at baseline × 100%.
The determination of VFA has been explained in previous studies [8 (link)], briefly described as follows: visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue areas were assessed using a 3.0T clinical MRI scanner (Archiva; Philips Medical System, Amsterdam, The Netherlands), which imaged the abdominal region between the L4 and L5 vertebrae with the subject in the supine position. Segmentation of the images in the VFA and subcutaneous fat area (SFA) was carried out by the Slice-O-Matic image analysis software version 4.2 (Tomovision Inc., Montreal, QC, Canada). Abdominal obesity was defined as a VFA ≥ 80 cm² [14 (link)].