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Whole hepatic lipid volume quantification and color mapping by multi‐slice and multi‐point magnetic resonance imaging
Author(s) -
Igarashi Hiroyuki,
Shigiyama Fumika,
Wakui Noritaka,
Nagai Hidenari,
Shibuya Kazutoshi,
Shiraga Nobuyuki,
Hirose Takahisa,
Kumashiro Naoki
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
hepatology research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.123
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1872-034X
pISSN - 1386-6346
DOI - 10.1111/hepr.13408
Subject(s) - magnetic resonance imaging , volume (thermodynamics) , nuclear magnetic resonance , point (geometry) , medicine , radiology , physics , mathematics , geometry , quantum mechanics
Aim Current approaches for hepatic steatosis assess only a small point within the liver and might cause inaccuracy for longitudinal observation. We aimed to establish a reliable non‐invasive method for whole hepatic lipid content evaluation. Methods A total of 52 patients with hepatic steatosis underwent liver biopsy. Hepatic lipid content was assessed by Dixon in‐phase/out‐of‐phase magnetic resonance imaging and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Using multi‐slice and multi‐point magnetic resonance imaging, we calculated the lipid intensity of every voxel throughout the liver and showed the color‐mapped lipid distributions. This new analysis could also quantify the whole hepatic lipid and whole liver volumes absolutely. The diagnostic performance of hepatic lipid content between the new analysis and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy methods was compared by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis referring to the steatosis scores of the liver biopsy. Results Areas under the receiver operating characteristic for the diagnosis of steatosis scores ≥1, ≥2, and ≥3 using magnetic resonance imaging and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy were 0.86 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.70–1.00) and 0.98 (95% CI 0.93–1.00), 0.94 (95% CI 0.87–1.00) and 0.93 (95% CI 0.86–1.00), and 0.95 (95% CI 0.89–1.00) and 0.97 (95% CI 0.93–1.00), respectively, showing comparable diagnostic accuracies. However, color mapping showed some inconsistencies between the methods. Conclusions We described a non‐invasive and repeatable evaluation method of whole hepatic lipid accumulation with absolute quantification and color mapping. Hepatic steatosis was accurately evaluated regardless of heterogeneous lipid accumulation. The whole hepatic lean volume, reflecting the hepatic parenchymal condition, can also be determined by this method.