Lan Lu1, Jacob M. Haus2, John P.
Kirwan2, Chris A. Flask1,3
1Department of Radiology, Case Western
Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States; 2Department of
Pathobiology, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, United States; 3Department
of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH,
United States
Recent
studies suggest diffusion-weighted (DWI) and diffusion tensor MRI (DTI) as a
promising tool in studying hepatic diseases including hepatitis and cirrhosis.
Similarly, Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) progresses from fatty
liver (steatosis) to fibrosis (steatohepatitis), but diffusion MRI studies on
NAFLD subjects are limited. In this study, we used DTI to investigate the
diffusion parameters in obese, insulin resistant adults with fatty liver in
comparison with healthy volunteers. Our results demonstrate diffusional
changes indicative of hepatic adipocyte accumulation and not fibrosis. Therefore, hepatic lipids can complicate
the utility of DWI/DTI in the study hepatic fibrosis associated with
NAFLD/NASH.