Simultaneous Quantification of Fat Fraction & Fatty Acid Composition using MRI

Pernilla Peterson¹, Sven Mnsson¹

In this phantom study, a new reconstruction algorithm based on multi-echo imaging is introduced which uses theoretical knowledge of the chemical structure of fatty acids (FA) to simultaneously quantify the fat fraction (FF) and the FA composition. An iterative least squares approach was used to estimate the number of double bonds, number of methylene-interrupted double bonds, chain length and water and fat signals. From these estimates, FF and the fraction unsaturated FA (UF) were calculated. Both FF and UF were successfully quantified. These results clearly show that the investigated imaging technique enables simultaneous quantification of FF and FA composition.