Feasibility of Quantifying Lipid Content in Muscles, Liver and Heart of Very Obese Subjects with MRS

Ronald Ouwerkerk¹, Ahmed Medhat Gharib¹, Khaled Zakarya Abd-Elmoniem¹, Kong Y. Chen², Jatin Raj Matta¹, Monica C. Skarulis²

To study effects of obesity on lipid metabolism in the muscles, heart and liver we studied obese subjects with localized MRS in heart, liver and leg muscles. A protocol comprising cardiac cine- and tagged MRI, water-fat images of liver, thigh and calf and a visceral fat determination was executed in a wide-bore 3T whole body magnet on subjects with body mass indices 41-62, weights 99-152kg. MRS data from PRESS with cardiac, navigator gating and outer volume suppression to reduce motion artifacts and contamination from surrounding fat proved feasibility of measuring cardiac, liver and skeletal muscle lipid content in obese subjects.