• 1.Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China;;
  • 2.Department of Radiology, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences &;
  • Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, Chengdu 610072, Sichuan Province, China;
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ObjectiveTo investigate the diagnostic value of spectral saturation inversion recovery, gradient-echo chemical shift MRI, and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in quantifying hepatic fat content. MethodsConventional T1-weighted and T2-weighted scanning (without fat saturation and with fat saturation), gradient-echo T1W in-phase (IP) and opposedphase (OP) images and 1H-MRS were performed in 31 healthy volunteers and 22 patients who were candidates for liver surgery. Signal intensities of T1WI  amp; T1WIFS (SInonfat1, SIfat1), T2WI  amp; T2WI-FS (SInonfat2, SIfat2), and IP  amp; OP (SIin, SIout) were measured respectively, the relative signal intensity one (RSI1), relative signal intensity two (RSI2), and fat index (FI) were calculated. Peak values and the area under peak of 1H-MRS were measured, and the relative lipid content of liver cells (RLC ) were calculated. Twenty-two patients accepted liver resection and histological examination after MRI scanning, the proportion of fatty degenerative cells were calculated by image analysis software. Results①Hepatic steatosis group showed higher average values of RSI1, FI, and RLC to non-hepatic steatosis group (P lt;0.05), while there was no significant difference in RSI2 between two groups (P gt;0.05). ②There was a statistical significant difference in RLC among different histopathological grades of hepatic steatosis, and RLC increased in parallel with histopathological grade (P lt;0.05).There was no significant difference in RSI2, RSI1, and FI among different histopathological grades, although the latter two had a tendency of increasing concomitant with histopathological grade (P gt;0.05). ③The values of FI and RLC were positively correlated with the PFDC (r=0468, P=0.027; r=0771, P lt;0.000 1), while they were not in RSI1 and RSI2 (r=0.411, P=0.057; r=0.191, P=0.392). ConclusionsSPIR, Gradient-echo chemical shift MRI and 1H-MRS can help to differentiate patients with hepatic steatosis from normal persons, the latter also can help to classify hepatic steatosis. In quantifying hepatic fat content, 1H-MRS is superior to gradient-echo chemical shift MRI, while SPIR’s role is limited.

Citation: ZHAO Liming ,SONG Bin,CHEN Guangwen,YUAN Fang. Comparative Study of Quantitative Diagnosis of Hepatic Fat Content by MRI and Patholgy. CHINESE JOURNAL OF BASES AND CLINICS IN GENERAL SURGERY, 2011, 18(6): 666-671. doi: Copy