Abstract #0357

Non-invasive quantification and characterisation of liver fat in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) using automated analysis of MRS correlated with histology

Robert Flintham¹, Peter Eddowes², Scott Semple³, Natasha McDonald⁴, Jonathan Fallowfield⁴, Tim Kendall⁵, Stefan Hübscher⁶, Philip Newsome², Gideon Hirschfield², and Nigel Paul Davies^1,7

¹Medical Physics, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, United Kingdom, ²Centre for Liver Research, NIHR Biomedical Research Unit, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom, ³Clinical Research Imaging Centre, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, ⁴MRC Centre for Inflammation Research, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, ⁵MRC Human Genetics Unit, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, ⁶Pathology, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, United Kingdom, ⁷Institute of Cancer and Genomics, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

MRS is proven to accurately measure liver fat fraction (FF), but its potential to differentiate steatohepatitis from simple steatosis in non-alcohol related fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is unexplored. MRS was acquired in 60 patients with suspected NAFLD across two centres prior to biopsy. Automated analysis was developed using TARQUIN to estimate FF, lipid chain length (CL) and number of double-bonds per chain (nDB) revealing strong correlations between FF, nDB, CL and steatosis grade. nDB also negatively correlated with hepatocyte ballooning assessed by histopathology. Further investigation of the relationship between MRS-derived lipid composition measurements and disease severity in NAFLD is warranted.

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