Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease MRI

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Vamsikrishna Gunnam M.B.B.S [2] Parth Vikram Singh, MBBS[3]

Abdominal MRI may be helpful in the diagnosis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Findings on MRI suggestive of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease include quantification of the hepatic steatosis. MRI has a sensitivity of 96% and specificity of 93% in diagnosing NAFLD. However, it uses is limited because of the cost.

• Abdominal MRI may be helpful in the diagnosis of NAFLD.^[1][2][3]
• Findings on MRI suggestive NAFLD include:
  • Quantification of hepatic steatosis.^[4][5]
  • Drop in signal intensity in liver on the out-of-phase sequence, compatible with intra-cellular lipid deposition.
• MRI also helps longitudinal follow-up of patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease to check response to therapy
• Another kind of MRI is magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) which reflects fat in the whole liver like triglycerides in a specific volume; and proton density fat fraction (PDFF).^[6]
• Magnetic resonance imaging-proton density fat fraction has a sensitivity of 77% to 92% and specificity of 87% to 94% for detecting any degree of hepatic steatosis. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy has sensitivity and specificity of approximately 95% to 98%, but these methods are primarily used in clinical trials and specialized centers.^[7]

Template:WS Template:WH