Puneet Sharma1, Hiroumi D. Kitajima1,
Xiaodong Zhong2, Bobby Kalb3,
1Radiology, Emory
Healthcare, Atlanta, GA, United States; 2MR R&D
Collaborations, Siemens Healthcare, Atlanta, GA, United States; 3Radiology,
Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States; 4Pathology, Emory University,
Atlanta, GA, United States; 5Hepatology, Children's Hospital of
Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, United States
Therapy development for early disease has required accurate and reproducible measurement for the longitudinal monitoring of hepatic lipid. Recently, a multi-echo breath hold T2-corrected MR spectroscopy technique (HISTO-MRS) has demonstrated clinical feasibility, while proving robust in phantom validation of lipid content. This investigation extends these initial observations for a more broad evaluation of accuracy and reproducibility in a clinical setting. The results showed that the HISTO technique was highly reproducible, while significantly correlating with biopsy measures, allowing effective longitudinal assessment of hepatic lipid. Combined with efficient and automated post-processing steps, HISTO-MRS demonstrates clinical applicability as a biopsy surrogate.