Xeni Deligianni1, Klaus Scheffler2, 3, Oliver Bieri1
1Division of Radiological Physics - Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Basel Hospital, Basel, Switzerland; 2MTC Department, MPI for Biological Cybernetics, Tbingen, Germany; 3Dept. Neuroimaging and MR-Physics, University of Tbingen, Tbingen, Germany
Assessing the fat liver properties is of increased clinical interest, such as for quantifying non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. MR imaging of liver fat has been proven to be a valuable non-invasive alternative to biopsy. A 3D multi-echo gradient echo sequence with sequentially shifted echo times is proposed for whole liver fat tissue characterization within a single breath-hold. The signal time course is analyzed using a voxel-wise singular value decomposition to yield water-fat fractions and corresponding T2* relaxation times. This approach provides a robust way for fast and reliable analysis of water and fat signals.