Magnetic Resonance Imaging Techniques for Hepatic Fat Assessment
Summary
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques have transformed the non-invasive evaluation of hepatic steatosis by enabling quantitative mapping of liver fat content. Proton density fat fraction (PDFF) derived from chemical shift-encoded MRI offers a direct measure of tissue lipid concentration that correlates with histological steatosis grades. Multi-echo acquisitions, such as the IDEAL sequence, correct for confounding factors including T2* relaxation, field inhomogeneity and multi-peak fat spectra, thereby enhancing accuracy across scanner platforms. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) provides detailed lipid composition by resolving individual resonance peaks, distinguishing saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acid fractions. Combined, these approaches allow longitudinal monitoring of disease progression, stratification of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and assessment of therapeutic interventions, all without the risks of biopsy. Standardisation efforts and simplified sampling protocols aim to integrate quantitative MRI fat assessment into routine clinical workflows worldwide.
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Magnetic Resonance Imaging Techniques for Hepatic Fat Assessment publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in magnetic resonance imaging techniques for hepatic fat assessment across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Proton density fat fraction (PDFF): The proportion of mobile protons attributable to fat within a voxel, expressed as a percentage of total proton density.
Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS): A technique that acquires chemical spectra from tissues, enabling quantification of individual lipid resonances and metabolites.
IDEAL sequence: An MR acquisition method (“Iterative Decomposition of water and fat with Echo Asymmetry and Least-squares estimation”) that separates water and fat signals while correcting for confounders.
Chemical shift-encoded MRI: Imaging that exploits differences in resonance frequency between water and fat protons to produce separate maps of each component.
Voxel: A three-dimensional volume element in an image, defined by pixel dimensions in the imaging plane and slice thickness, within which signal averaging occurs.
References
- Marked difference in liver fat measured by histology vs. magnetic resonance-proton density fat fraction: A meta-analysis. JHEP Reports (2023).
- Reproducibility of Intra- and Inter-scanner Measurements of Liver Fat Using Complex Confounder-corrected Chemical Shift Encoded MRI at 3.0 Tesla. Scientific Reports (2016).
- Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of Hepatic Fat from Fundamental to Clinical Applications. Diagnostics (2021).
- Measuring liver fat fraction with complex-based chemical shift MRI: the effect of simplified sampling protocols on accuracy. BMC Medical Imaging (2019).
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