Distinction Between Pure Steatosis and NASH Using a Fat Quantification Method in Combination with Liver Intravoxel Incoherent Motion Imaging in MRI at 3.0 T.

Benjamin Leporq¹, Frank Pilleul¹, ², Jerome Dumortier³, Olivier Guillaud³, Thibaud Lefort³, Olivier Beuf¹

Distinction between pure steatosis and NASH in patients with NAFLD is clinically important and drives the therapeutic strategy. While histology after liver biopsy is the gold standard for liver steatosis diagnosis and to establish the distinction between NASH and pure steatosis, inherent risk with a recognized morbidity and mortality, inter-observer variability and sampling errors renders this method unsuitable for longitudinal clinical monitoring, in particularly on children. Non-invasive quantification methods have been developed to quantify liver fat content. Nevertheless, these latter are not able to separate pure steatosis and NASH. Aim of this study was to evaluate the combination of liver intra-voxel incoherent motion imaging (IVIM) and a MRI fat quantification method at 3.0 T to make the distinction between NASH and pure steatosis. Preliminary results suggested that combining a fat quantification method with IVIM could be a relevant none invasive mean to evaluate steatosis severity and distinguish between pure steatosis and NASH.