Association between diagnostic imaging and biochemical markers: a possible tool for monitoring metabolic disorders

Metabolic syndrome (MetS), obesity, and diabetes mellitus (DM) are the most common metabolic disorders (MDs) in the world, characterized by abnormalities in body's metabolic processes. The typical diagnosis of MDs is usually executed by monitoring the levels of specific biochemical markers, but diagnostic imaging may provide valuable complementary information in MDs, offering advantages in diagnosis, target organ monitoring, follow-up, and development of new therapeutic approaches. The aim of this review is to summarize and discuss the studies published in the literature about the connection between images deriving from the diagnostic techniques and the key biochemical markers in the main MDs, in order to gain a comprehensive view of the different disorders.