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Abstract #0864

Glucose & Intralipid Infusion in Rats: Comparative Quantification of Liver Steatosis by MRI, MRS & Histopathology

Gaspard d'Assignies1,2, Ghislaine Fonts3,4, Louis Gaboury, Yvan Boulanger5, Gilles Soulez3, Vincent Poitout3,4, An Tang6

1Department of Medical Imaging, Hpital Saint-Luc, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; 2Department of Radiology, Beaujon Hospital, Universit Paris VII, Paris, France; 3CRCHUM, Canada; 4Montral Diabetes Research Center, Canada; 5Hpital Saint-Luc, University of Montreal; 6Department of Medical Imaging, CRCHUM, Montreal, Quebec, Canada


This study compares quantification of liver steatosis by MRI and histopathology by using MRS as the reference standard for the discrimination of three rat phenotypes assigned to an experimental glucolipotoxic steatosis model or a control group. A significant correlation was found between dual-echo MRI and MRS. A weaker correlation was found between histopathology and MRS. MRI and MRS accurately distinguished the rats receiving the infusion of glucose + Intralipid from those receiving the saline control, whereas histology did not. Although many authors use histopathology as the gold standard, vacuolar degeneration and glycogen may limit its accuracy for liver fat quantification.