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Quantification of hepatic steatosis with MRI: The effects of accurate fat spectral modeling
Author(s) -
Reeder Scott B.,
Robson Philip M.,
Yu Huanzhou,
Shimakawa Ann,
Hines Catherine DG,
McKenzie Charles A.,
Brittain Jean H.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of magnetic resonance imaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.563
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1522-2586
pISSN - 1053-1807
DOI - 10.1002/jmri.21751
Subject(s) - steatosis , nonalcoholic fatty liver disease , spectral imaging , fatty liver , voxel , fraction (chemistry) , nuclear medicine , magnetic resonance imaging , fat accumulation , medicine , chemistry , radiology , nuclear magnetic resonance , pathology , physics , adipose tissue , optics , chromatography , disease
Abstract Purpose To develop a chemical‐shift–based imaging method for fat quantification that accounts for the complex spectrum of fat, and to compare this method with MR spectroscopy (MRS). Quantitative noninvasive biomarkers of hepatic steatosis are urgently needed for the diagnosis and management of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Materials and Methods Hepatic steatosis was measured with “fat‐fraction” images in 31 patients using a multiecho chemical‐shift–based water‐fat separation method at 1.5T. Fat‐fraction images were reconstructed using a conventional signal model that considers fat as a single peak at –210 Hz relative to water (“single peak” reconstruction). Fat‐fraction images were also reconstructed from the same source images using two methods that account for the complex spectrum of fat; precalibrated and self‐calibrated “multipeak” reconstruction. Single‐voxel MRS that was coregistered with imaging was performed for comparison. Results Imaging and MRS demonstrated excellent correlation with single peak reconstruction (r 2 = 0.91), precalibrated multipeak reconstruction (r 2 = 0.94), and self‐calibrated multipeak reconstruction (r 2 = 0.91). However, precalibrated multipeak reconstruction demonstrated the best agreement with MRS, with a slope statistically equivalent to 1 (0.96 ± 0.04; P = 0.4), compared to self‐calibrated multipeak reconstruction (0.83 ± 0.05, P = 0.001) and single‐peak reconstruction (0.67 ± 0.04, P < 0.001). Conclusion Accurate spectral modeling is necessary for accurate quantification of hepatic steatosis with MRI. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2009;29:1332–1339. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.