Assessment of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease by 1H-MRS Hepatic Lipid Profiling; a Preliminary Animal Study at 9.4T

Yunjung Lee¹, Hyeonjin Kim¹, ²

The applicability of in-vivo 1H-MRS hepatic lipid profiling (MR-HLP) in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) was investigated by estimating the relative fractions of diunsaturated (f_di), monounsaturated (f_mono) and saturated (f_sat) fatty acids in the livers of CCl4-treated rats at 9.4T. Steatosis and fibrosis are positively correlated with f_mono and negatively correlated with f_di. In statistical analyses, MR-HLP parameters discriminated with 100% prediction accuracy those rats with severe steatosis and fibrosis from those with different severity of steatosis and fibrosis including those with severe steatosis and mild fibrosis. These findings support potential applicability of in-vivo MR-HLP at high field in NAFLD.