MRI-Scoring as a predictor for the metabolic risk profile and for the success of a lifestyle intervention for weight loss

• Applicant: Dr. Daniela Junker
• Subject Area: Nuclear Medicine, Radiotherapy, Radiobiology ; Nutritional Sciences
• Term: from 2020 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 450799851

Lifestyle interventions are considered the basic therapy for obesity, which was declared by the World Economic Forum in February 2019 to be one of the three greatest threats to humanity and one of the greatest global challenges to health systems, alongside climate change and malnutrition. Weight reduction can prevent concomitant diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. However, the success of an intervention can currently hardly be predicted, so that the necessary intensity or a change to other therapeutic approaches cannot be planned sufficiently. The Body Mass Index (BMI) alone as a basis for deciding on the intensity and type of therapy has little significance with regard to the risk of comorbidities - even with a BMI that is by definition normal, there may be an increased metabolic risk and vice versa. Here the body composition plays a role. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allows its breakdown non-invasively and without radiation. There are studies on individual MRI parameters which indicate that so-called imaging "metabolic phenotyping" enables the stratification of metabolic risk and thus makes an important contribution to the personalisation of lifestyle interventions. However, data on the entirety of the available MRI-parameters, including those already known as well as optimized and unexplored parameters and their weighting for the metabolic risk profile and the success of an intervention, do not yet exist.The aim of the project described here is to quantify known, optimized and unexplored MRI parameters in a prospective lifestyle intervention study on weight loss before and after the intervention. In a second step, the MRI parameters should then be weighted with regard to their influence on the metabolic risk and the success of the weight loss intervention and summarized by means of two "scores". These scores will allow non-invasively by the use of non-contrast enhanced MRI images to make early prognoses regarding the individual risk for metabolic diseases and to assess the chances of success of a lifestyle intervention for weight loss. This should open up the possibility to individually plan the intensity and the necessary monitoring of lifestyle interventions and, if necessary, to consider supporting methods or alternatives for weight loss (e.g. bariatric interventions).In the medium term, these scores are to be applied, reviewed and, if necessary, optimised in further studies. Ideally, the scores can then be used in the long term both for specific questions and automatically in the routine imaging of the abdomen and pelvis in order to automatically alert radiologists and referring physicians to possible metabolic risks in the examined patients.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants