Breath-hold 1H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy for intrahepatic lipid quantification at 3 Tesla.
OBJECTIVE
To compare breath-hold 1H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) with respiratory-gated 1H-MRS and computed tomography (CT) for quantification of hepatic lipid content.


METHODS
Twenty-three premenopausal women underwent breath-hold point-resolved single-voxel 1H-MRS of the liver followed by respiratory-gated 1H-MRS at 3 Tesla and CT slice through the liver. Interscan variability for 1H-MRS was assessed in 6 volunteers. Pearson correlation coefficients, Bland-Altman 95% limit of agreement, and concordance correlation coefficients were calculated.


RESULTS
There was a strong correlation between breath-hold and respiratory-gated 1H-MRS (r = 0.94, P < 0.0001; concordance correlation coefficient, 0.75). Using Bland-Altman analysis, all but 2 data points were within the limits of agreement. Both 1H-MRS techniques had low interscan variability. There was an inverse correlation of both 1H-MRS techniques with CT attenuation values of the liver.


CONCLUSIONS
Breath-hold 1H-MRS is a reliable method to measure hepatic lipid content at 3 Tesla. Breath-hold 1H-MRS of the liver provides data that closely correlates with that obtained from longer-duration respiratory-gated technique.
Bredella
Miriam A
MA
Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA. mbredella@partners.org
Ghomi
Reza Hosseini
RH
Thomas
Bijoy J
BJ
Ouellette
Hugue A
HA
Sahani
Dushyant V
DV
Miller
Karen K
KK
Torriani
Martin
M
D000328:Adult; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008055:Lipids / Q000032:analysis*; D008099:Liver / Q000737:chemistry*; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
D008055:Lipids