Rapid liver tissue characterization using simultaneous multi-relaxation-time imaging: a comparative study with...

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Quantitative MRI
• Liver Disease Diagnostics

Background:

• Increasing need for accurate, non-invasive liver disease diagnostics.
• Requirement for rapid and precise quantitative imaging techniques.
• Development of simultaneous multi-relaxation-time imaging (TXI) for liver assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• Introduce and validate TXI for quantitative liver tissue assessment.
• Simultaneously acquire proton density fat fraction (PDFF), R2*, and T1 maps.
• Compare TXI accuracy and consistency with established MRI techniques (VFA T1 mapping, qDixon) in healthy volunteers and NAFLD patients.

Main Methods:

• Prospective cohort study with 35 healthy volunteers and 9 NAFLD patients.
• Liver MRI performed using TXI, VFA T1 mapping, and qDixon sequences.
• Statistical analysis included ICCs, Bland-Altman plots, paired T-tests, and Pearson correlation coefficients.

Main Results:

• TXI demonstrated excellent inter-observer agreement for T1 (0.985), R2* (0.999), and PDFF (0.995) in healthy volunteers.
• Strong correlations (R² > 0.89) and no significant differences between TXI and reference MRI measurements for T1, R2*, and PDFF.
• Significant differences in R2* (P=0.045) and PDFF (P<0.001) between NAFLD patients and healthy volunteers; no significant difference in T1 (P=0.965).

Conclusions:

• TXI provides a rapid, reliable method for simultaneous T1, R2*, and PDFF acquisition.
• TXI exhibits high consistency with established quantitative MRI techniques.
• TXI holds significant potential for clinical non-invasive liver tissue characterization, aiding NAFLD diagnosis and monitoring.