Brown Adipose Reporting Criteria in Imaging STudies (BARCIST 1.0): Recommendations for Standardized FDG-PET/CT Experiments in Humans

• Published in: Cell metabolism 2016-08, Vol.24 (2), p.210-222
• Main Authors: Chen, Kong Y., Cypess, Aaron M., Laughlin, Maren R., Haft, Carol R., Hu, Houchun Harry, Bredella, Miriam A., Enerbäck, Sven, Kinahan, Paul E., Lichtenbelt, Wouter van Marken, Lin, Frank I., Sunderland, John J., Virtanen, Kirsi A., Wahl, Richard L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adipose Tissue, Brown - diagnostic imaging; adult humans; Biological Sciences; Biologiska vetenskaper; Cell Biology; Clinical Medicine; cold-exposure; computed-tomography; Endocrinology & Metabolism; energy-expenditure; f-18-fdg pet/ct; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 - metabolism; Guidelines as Topic; Humans; insulin; Klinisk medicin; Organ Size; oxidative-metabolism; Positron Emission Tomography Computed Tomography; positron-emission-tomography; Reproducibility of Results; sensitivity; Statistics as Topic; tissue activity; type-2 diabetes-mellitus
• ISSN: 1550-4131; 1932-7420
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2016.07.014

Human brown adipose tissue (BAT) presence, metabolic activity, and estimated mass are typically measured by imaging [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake in response to cold exposure in regions of the body expected to contain BAT, using positron emission tomography combined with X-ray computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT). Efforts to describe the epidemiology and biology of human BAT are hampered by diverse experimental practices, making it difficult to directly compare results among laboratories. An expert panel was assembled by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases on November 4, 2014 to discuss minimal requirements for conducting FDG-PET/CT experiments of human BAT, data analysis, and publication of results. This resulted in Brown Adipose Reporting Criteria in Imaging STudies (BARCIST 1.0). Since there are no fully validated best practices at this time, panel recommendations are meant to enhance comparability across experiments, but not to constrain experimental design or the questions that can be asked. Brown adipose tissue was recently discovered to be a functional organ in adult humans, with great therapeutic potential. To better advance the field through standardization of experimental methods and reporting, Chen et al. provide recommendations (“BARCIST 1.0”) by an expert panel for conducting human clinical studies using FDG-PET/CT.