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Hepatic fat quantification using the proton density fat fraction (PDFF): utility of free-drawn-PDFF with a large coverage area

  • ABDOMINAL RADIOLOGY
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the diagnostic performance of magnetic resonance imaging-estimated proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF) using a free-drawn region-of-interest (ROI) measurement of hepatic fat deposition compared to MR spectroscopy (MRS) as the reference standard.

Materials and methods

A total of 156 patients underwent 3T MR imaging with a multi-step adaptive fitting approach, multi-echo volume interpolated breath-hold examination (VIBE) acquisition and single-voxel high-speed T2-corrected multiple-echo 1H-MR spectroscopy (SVS). Seven ROI measurements were performed in each segment of the fat percentage maps (“segmental-PDFF”). Three ROIs were placed at the same level as the SVS (“VOI-PDFF”). Free-hand-drawn ROIs were placed at three different levels along the entire liver (“free-drawn-PDFF”) and separately along the right and left lobes (“free-drawn-PDFF-2”).

Results

A strong correlation was found between VOI-PDFF and SVS (r = 0.977). The right lobe had greater fat content than the left lobe (p < 0.001). After image analysis, 54 and 46 patients were classified as having steatosis using SVS and free-drawn-PDFF as a reference standard, respectively. The diagnostic performance of free-drawn-PDFF was significantly different from SVS (p < 0.05).

Conclusion

Free-drawn-PDFF provides accurate and generalized information regarding hepatic fat deposition. It is a useful method, particularly if fat deposition is heterogeneous, and should be considered as a new reference standard.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Chonbuk National University Medical School and Hospital, Research Institute of Clinical Medicine of Chonbuk National University-Biomedical Research Institute of Chonbuk National University Hospital, 20 Geonji-ro, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju-Si, Chonbuk, 561-712, Korea

    Kun Young Kim, Ji Soo Song & Young Min Han

  2. MR Applications Development, Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany

    Stephan Kannengiesser

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  1. Kun Young Kim
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Correspondence to Ji Soo Song.

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Kim, K.Y., Song, J.S., Kannengiesser, S. et al. Hepatic fat quantification using the proton density fat fraction (PDFF): utility of free-drawn-PDFF with a large coverage area. Radiol med 120, 1083–1093 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-015-0545-x

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