This program takes a black-and-white T1-weighted MRI image of a transverse section of the thigh and displays the approximate volumes of muscle and adipose/soft tissue, along with health indicators.*

 

Map Key:

RED = Adipose/Soft Tissue

GREEN = Muscle Tissue

BLACK = Non-muscle Tissue**

WHITE = Space

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Important Info:

• This program is designed to run with standard-T1 weighted MRI slides, if your MRI slide is particularly bright, dark, high- or low-contrast, you may need to adjust the red and green parameters in the coloring loop.

• Area of the femur is approximated based on the radius of the thigh, assuming that the femur has a slight ellipse shape with a larger height than width. The area of the femur is subtracted from the area of adipose/soft tissue, since both show similar brightness. There is an error checking mechanism in place in case there are unusual areas of brightness outside of the thigh, outlier radius values will not affect the femur area calculation.

• A montage image is shown of the original MRI slide and the colorized map from which calculations for muscle and adipose/soft tissue amount are derived side-by-side so you can confirm that the parameters are appropriate and the calculations correct.

• *The usefulness of the health indicator based on muscle:adipose/soft tissue ratio is also dependent on how far down the thigh the transverse section is obtained, since more body fat typically accumulates more proximally toward the torso. For my parameters of athletic/healthy/deconditioned/unhealthy, I used sections from around the midpoint between the hip and knee.

• **Black areas on the map indicate areas that have the brightness of muscle tissue, but small areas of isolated muscle 'tissue' are likely not actual muscles, and are therefore discluded from muscle area.