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Liver fat volume fraction quantification with fat and water T1 and T2* estimation and accounting for NMR multiple components in patients with chronic liver disease at 1.5 and 3.0 T

  • Gastrointestinal
  • Published:
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Abstract

Objective

To validate a magnitude-based method for fat volume fraction (FVF) quantification in the liver without any dominant component ambiguity problems and with the aim of transferring this method to any imaging system (clinical fields of 1.5 and 3.0 T).

Methods

MR imaging was performed at 1.5 and 3.0 T using a multiple-angle multiple-gradient echo sequence. A quantification algorithm correcting for relaxation time effects using a disjointed estimation of T1 and T2* of fat and water and accounting for the NMR spectrum of fat was developed. Validations were performed on fat–water emulsion at 1.5 and 3.0 T and compared with 1H-MRS. This was followed by a prospective in-vivo comparative study on 28 patients with chronic liver disease and included histology.

Results

Phantom study showed good agreement between MRI and MRS. MR-estimated FVF and histological results correlated strongly and FVF allowed the diagnosis of mild (cutoff = 5.5 %) and moderate steatosis (cutoff = 15.2 %) with a sensitivity/specificity of 100 %.

Conclusion

FVF calculation worked independently of the field strength. FVF may be a relevant biomarker for the clinical follow-up of patients (1) with or at risk of NAFLD (2) of steatosis in patients with other chronic liver diseases.

Key points

• Non-invasive techniques to diagnose non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases (NAFLD) are important.

• Liver fat volume fraction quantified using MRI correlates well with histology.

• Fat volume fraction could be a relevant marker for NAFLD clinical follow-up.

• Disjointed relaxation time estimation could potentially identify factors contributing to NAFLD.

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Acknowledgments

This work was conducted in the framework of the LabEX PRIMES. The authors thank Anoop Ramgolam for help in editing the manuscript and Hervé Saint-Jalmes for providing lipid emulsions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CREATIS, CNRS UMR 5220, Inserm U1044, INSA-Lyon, Université de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, bât. 308, 43, Boulevard du 11 Novembre 1918, 69616, Villeurbanne, France

    Benjamin Leporq, Hélène Ratiney, Frank Pilleul & Olivier Beuf

  2. Hospices Civils de Lyon, Département D’imagerie Digestive, CHU Edouard Herriot, Lyon, France

    Frank Pilleul

  3. Centre Léon Bérard, Centre de Lutte contre le Cancer, Lyon, France

    Frank Pilleul

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  1. Benjamin Leporq
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  2. Hélène Ratiney
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  4. Olivier Beuf
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Correspondence to Olivier Beuf.

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Leporq, B., Ratiney, H., Pilleul, F. et al. Liver fat volume fraction quantification with fat and water T1 and T2* estimation and accounting for NMR multiple components in patients with chronic liver disease at 1.5 and 3.0 T. Eur Radiol 23, 2175–2186 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-013-2826-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-013-2826-x

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