Non-Invasive Quantification of Hepatic Metabolic Rate of Oxygen (HMRO2) by MRI

Deng Mao¹, Lisa Krishnamurthy¹, Hanzhang Lu¹

Liver consumes 20 percent of the total resting state oxygen consumption and oxygen supply is important for its functionality and viability. However, the current methods measuring hepatic oxygen metabolism rate (HMRO2) are limited due to invasiveness. Therefore, a new and non-invasive way to measure HMRO2 was first developed by us. This method measures the oxygenation level of hepatic vein and hepatic portal vein by a newly established sequence called T2-Relaxation-Under-Spin-Tagging (TRUST). Plus using phase contract MRI to measure portal vein blood flow, HMRO2 can be calculated based on Fick principal. The preliminary results demonstrate a proof-of principle for the method.