Fat Contents of Human Liver, Pancreas and Kidney

Paul E. Sijens¹, Mireille A. Edens¹, Stephan J.L. Bakker¹, Ronald P. Stolk¹

Multivoxel MR spectroscopy and a previously validated gradient echo MRI adaptation of Dixons two-point technique were used to quantify kidney, liver, and pancreas fat contents in volunteers with diverse body weights, and to assess inter-organ relationships. Respective fat contents of liver, pancreas and kidney were 4.4%, 4.0% and 0.8%. The amount of subcutaneous fat correlated with liver fat content and pancreas fat content (r=0.45 and r=0.44, respectively; P<0.01). Kidney fat content correlated with none of the other parameters, indicating that renal lipid accumulation, unlike the coupled accumulations of fat in liver and pancreas (r=0.43;P<0.01), is not observed in obese subjects.