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Background The quantity and quality of skeletal muscle have been observed to be closely related with post-transplantation mortality in patients undergoing living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). However, the effect of LDLT on skeletal muscle has not been thoroughly investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate the change of trunk muscle mass and adiposity in recipients of LDLT. Methods The study population included LDLT recipients at Hokkaido University Hospital who underwent pre- and post-operative computed tomography (CT) scans (31 recipients; 14 males, and 17 females). The cross-sectional area of the dorsal muscle group at the 12th thoracic vertebra (Th12) was measured with the dorsal muscle group mass index (DMGMI), while the psoas muscle at the upper border of 4th lumber vertebra (L4) was measured with the psoas muscle mass index (PMI). Muscle adiposity of the dorsal muscle group was also measured with the intramuscular adipose tissue content (IMAC). For these data, the correlation between pre-operative values and follow-up changes (post-operative values minus pre-operative values) were analyzed. Each sex was evaluated separately. Results A statistically significant correlation was detected between pre-operative values and follow-up differences in DMGMI for both sexes (male: r=-0.675, P=0.008; female: r=-0.687, P=0.002) and in PMI for both sexes (males: r=-0.739, P=0.003; females: r=-0.641, P=0.006). The correlation of pre-operative values and follow-up differences for IMAC was not statistically significant with r=0.132 (P=0.700) and r=-0.498 (P=0.071) for males and females, respectively. Conclusions Improvement of sarcopenia in recipients of LDLT can be demonstrated regardless of sex using volumetric CT.

Metabolic syndrome increases the risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease, particularly heart failure. Abdominal obesity is commonly assessed by measurement of the waist circumference, which exhibits a positive correlation with the visceral fat area measured on computed tomography (CT). CT is an excellent technique for measurement of cross-sectional areas of adipose tissue, but the exposure to ionizing radiation limits broad and repeated application in healthy subjects. Our purpose in this study was to determine the reliability of low-dose CT for abdominal fat quantification as compared with a standard CT protocol. A phantom was scanned by use of changes in the volume of vegetable oil, simulating visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue, and by changes in the tube current–time products (25–300 mAs). We measured the volume of vegetable oil for each mAs value, and we calculated the minimal detectable change (MDC) in the volume by making repeated measurements. The measured volume of vegetable oil at 50 mAs and higher was not significantly different (p > 0.05), but that at 25 mAs was significantly different (p

The contrast sensitivity functions (CSFs) were disturbed in recovered optic neuropathy and early glaucoma cases with the visual acuity of more than 1.0 in the conventional acuity tests, and gradually decreased as the atrophic states of the maculopapillar bundles developed ophthalmoscopically. The statistical analysis revealed that the static visual fields were also disturbed when the CSFs were decreased in these cases. Both of the CSFs and the static field were useful for the detection of abnormal central vision.