Intelligent Image Analysis of Diffusion Weighted Data Sets: A New Tool for Functional Imaging

Abstract

Obesity is a pandemic syndrome underlying the most prevalent causes of death and disability in developed countries including atherosclerosis, ischemic episodes and cancer. Obesity results from an imbalance in global energy metabolism, ultimately caused by disturbances in the neuroendocrine control of appetite in the hypothalamus and leading to an uncompensated feeding/fasting balance [3]. On these grounds, the non invasive detection of hypothalamic activation by food under healthy or diseased conditions entails considerable interest for the diagnosis and treatment of obesity and other food intake disorders as anorexia or bulimia.