[Pancreatic fat fraction in healthy men measured with MRI chemical shift imaging]

To detect the range of pancreatic fat fraction in healthy men, and the distribution of fat in pancreas.

A calibration curve was established by standard fat-water mixture model. Then, 83 healthy men were selected randomly. The participants were divided into three groups by age: group A 20-30 years (29 cases), group B 31-40 years (27 cases), group C 41-50 years (27 cases). The fat content in pancreas of the participants were quantified with double-echo chemical shift gradient-echo MR.

A perfect correlation between the MRI measurements and the true value of fat-water mixture was found (r = 0.996, P<0.01). There was no significant difference in the fat content of 3 different pancreatic regions (P>0.05). The 95% confidence interval of fat fraction ranged from 1.25%-4.83%, 1.58%-4.35%, 1.41%-4.75%, and 1.87%-4.19% in pancreatic head, body,nail and whole pancreas, respectively. No significant differences were found between the age groups (P>0.05).

Chemical-shift MR imaging is a reliable and safe noninvasive technique for the detection and quantification of fat. It can be useful in quantifying the fat fraction of pancreas. The fat content in healthy men of 20-50 years does not vary with age and in different pancreatic regions.