Shane A. Wells1, Diego Hernando1, Karl K. Vigen1, Scott B. Reeder1, 2
1Department of Radiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States; 2Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States
Chemical-shift based water-fat separation methods with R2*-correction can accurately quantify fat-fraction and R2*, as surrogate biomarkers of hepatic steatosis and iron overload. New hepatobiliary contrast agents dramatically alter the T1 and R2* of liver and may impact quantification of fat and iron. In this work, we investigate the impact of a hepatocyte-specific contrast agent (gadoxetic acid) on fat-fraction and R2*. We demonstrate that fat-fraction is unaffected by gadoxetic acid, so long as low flip angles are used. However, gadoxetic acid increases the apparent R2* demonstrating that quantification of iron overload should always be performed prior to contrast administration.