Sonographic assessment of regional fat in HIV-1-infected people.

The routine clinical assessment of lipodystrophy in HIV-1-infected patients is hindered by the absence of easy and reliable methods to measure regional fat. We used sonography to measure subcutaneous fat thickness at three reference skin points (periumbilical, brachial, and malar) and intra-abdominal fat thickness in HIV-1-infected patients with and without lipodystrophy and in healthy controls. Patients without lipodystrophy had less subcutaneous fat than uninfected controls. Sonographic assessment of subcutaneous malar and brachial fat in patients with lipodystrophy was more sensitive and specific than that of intra-abdominal fat in the diagnosis of abnormal fat distribution.