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Abstract #4624

Tissue- & Magnetic Resonance-Based Metrics for Quantifying Hepatic Content: Implications for Validation Studies using Tissue as the Reference Standard

Scott Brian Reeder1,2, Catherine D. Hines1, Charles A. McKenzie3, Claude B. Sirlin4

1Radiology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, United States; 2Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, United States; 3Medical Biophysics, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; 4Department of Radiology, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States


Hepatic steatosis is the abnormal accumulation of triglycerides within hepatocytes. Validation of quantitative MRS/MRI methods that measure hepatic fat content (proton density fat-fraction) requires the use of tissue-based reference standards. Liver biopsy, although invasive and limited by sampling variability is the most widely accepted reference standard. Tissue triglyceride extraction is an attractive alternative that accurately measures tissue fat concentration. Unfortunately, MRS/MRI-based metrics of fat concentration and tissue-based measured metrics are inherently different, complicating direct comparisons. The purpose of this e-poster is to describe commonly used metrics used to measure fat with histology, chemical extraction, and MRS/MRI.

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