Use of Infrared Thermography to Estimate Brown Fat Activation After a Cooling Protocol in Patients with Severe Obesity That Underwent Bariatric Surgery

Background In contrast to the energy-storing role of white adipose tissue (WAT), brown adipose tissue (BAT) acts as the main site of non-shivering thermogenesis in mammals and has been reported to play a role in protection against obesity and associated metabolic alterations in rodents. Infrared thermography (IRT) has been proposed as a novel non-invasive, safe, and quick method to estimate BAT thermogenic activation in humans. The aim of this study is to determine whether the IRT could be a potential new tool to estimate BAT thermogenic activation in patients with severe obesity in response to bariatric surgery. Methods Supraclavicular BAT thermogenic activation was evaluated using IRT in a cohort of 31 patients (50 ± 10 years old, BMI = 44.5 ± 7.8; 15 undergoing laparoscopy sleeve gastrectomy and 16 Roux-en-Y gastric bypass) at baseline and 6 months after a bariatric surgery. Clinical parameters were determined at these same time points. Results Supraclavicular BAT-related activity was detected in our patients by IRT after a cooling stimulus. The BAT thermogenic activation was higher at 6 months after laparoscopy sleeve gastrectomy (0.06 ± 0.1 vs 0.32 ± 0.1), while patients undergoing to a roux-en-Y gastric bypass did not change their thermogenic response using the same cooling stimulus (0.09 ± 0.1 vs 0.08 ± 0.1). Conclusions Our study postulates the IRT as a potential tool to evaluate BAT thermogenic activation in patients with obesity before and after a bariatric surgery. Further studies are needed to evaluate differences between LSG technique and RYGB on BAT activation.