Sujoy Mukherjee¹, Jarett Berry², Carlos Duncker³, Ian Jason Neeland⁴, Amit Singal², Viktoria Topper¹, and Takeshi Yokoo^1
1Department of Radiology and Advanced Imaging Research Center, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States, ²Department of Internal Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States, ³Perspectum, Oxford, United Kingdom, ⁴University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland, OH, United States

The natural history of hepatic steatosis and risk factors for the development of advanced chronic liver disease (CLD) are unknown. This interim analysis of 191 subjects in the Dallas Heart Study longitudinal cohort shows that having hepatic steatosis (defined as proton-density fat fraction >5%) at the baseline exam was significantly associated with development of advanced CLD (defined as corrected liver T1 ≥ 800msec) 10-20 years later, with CLD prevalence of 38.8% and 16.9% in the steatosis vs. non-steatosis cohort (p<0.001).  The baseline overweight or obesity status also appears to be associated with advanced CLD, independent of having steatosis at baseline.

Qing Wang¹, Ye Sheng¹, Jilei Zhang², and Weibo Chen^2
1Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University & First People's Hospital of Changzhou, changzhou, China, ²Philips Healthcare, shanghai, China

 To assess the diagnostic performance of radiomics analysis based on mDixon Quant in simultaneously quantifying liver steatosis, fibrosis and iron deposition of chronic liver disease (CLD) and eliminating the interaction of histopathological factors.

Jie Zhu¹, Zhuoya Yi¹, Mengsi Li¹, Qilong Chen¹, Yuanqiang Xiao¹, Ziying Yin², Kevin J Glaser², Jun Chen², Meng Yin², Richard L. Ehman², and Jin Wang^1
1The third affiliated hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China, ²Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, United States

In patients who have been clinically diagnosed with decompensated cirrhosis (DC), progression to more advanced decompensation is associated with high mortality. Therefore, the early detection of the risk of further decompensation is helpful to formulate individual treatment and follow-up schedules for patients with DC. Liver stiffness is a potential prognosis biomarker for patients with cirrhosis. This study evaluated MR elastography (MRE) as a tool to predict the risk of further decompensation. By integrating MRE-assessed liver stiffness with clinical information, we developed a risk score that is valuable for predicting further decompensation in patients with DC.

Narine Mesropyan¹, Patrick A. Kupczyk¹, Leona Dold², Michael Praktiknjo^2,3, Johannes Chang^2,3, Alexander Isaak¹, Christoph Endler¹, Dmitrij Kravchenko¹, Leon Bischoff¹, Alois M. Sprinkart¹, Claus C. Pieper¹, Daniel Kuetting ¹, Christian Jansen^2,3, Ulrike I. Attenberger¹, and Julian A. Luetkens^1
1Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany, ²Department of Internal Medicine I, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany, ³Center for Cirrhosis and Portal Hypertension Bonn (CCB), University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany

Assessment of disease severity in patients with liver cirrhosis is of great clinical importance and allows outcome prediction and overall mortality risk estimation. In the present study, we investigated the diagnostic utility of MRI-derived extracellular volume fraction (ECV) for the assessment of liver cirrhosis severity and differentiation between different Child-Pugh classes. Our study results demonstrated a high diagnostic performance of ECV for the assessment of liver cirrhosis severity and offer a reliable discrimination between different Child-Pugh classes. ECV might be a new quantitative marker for the assessment of liver cirrhosis severity, which can be calculated from quantitative liver MRI. 
 

Xia Wang¹, Yu Jiang¹, Sheng Zhang¹, Si Wang¹, Wei Wei¹, Mengzhuo Yao¹, Na Zhao¹, and Yuedong Han*^1
1Xi’an Gaoxin Hospital, Xi’an, China

Hepatobiliary cell-specific contrast agent of Gd-EOB-DTPA hepatobiliary phase acquisition DWI sequence will not affect lesion display and ADC value [1].Few studies have been performed on the effect of IVIM on hepatic parenchyma and have focused on studies in various hepatic occupancy contexts with discrepant findings [2,3].This study modeled a healthy control group and a non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) group. Gd-EOB-DTPA had no significant effect on the image quality and quantitative index of liver IVIM imaging in two groups, and IVIM scanning in the hepatobiliary waiting interval after placing Gd-EOB-DTPA enhancement helped to improve the examination flow rate. 

Alma Spahic¹, Grant Steven Roberts¹, Tanya Wolfson², David T Harris³, Nikolaos T Panagiotopoulos^3,4, Alejandro Roldán-Alzate^3,5,6, Kevin M Johnson^1,3, Oliver T Wieben^1,3, Claude B Sirlin⁷, Scott B Reeder^1,3,5,6,8, and Thekla Helene Oechtering^3,4
1Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin- Madison, Madison, WI, United States, ²Computational and Applied Statistics Laboratory, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States, ³Radiology, University of Wisconsin- Madison, Madison, WI, United States, ⁴Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Universität zu Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany, ⁵Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin- Madison, Madison, WI, United States, ⁶Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin- Madison, Madison, WI, United States, ⁷Radiology, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States, ⁸Emergency Medicine, University of Wisconsin- Madison, Madison, WI, United States

4D flow MRI of the portal vein has the potential to provide diagnostic value for detecting and staging certain liver diseases. To date, it is unknown whether weight loss influences portal flow in obese patients. We aimed to investigate the effect of weight loss on portal flow rate measured by non-contrast 4D flow MRI in obese patients undergoing weight loss surgery. Preliminary data of this ongoing study detected no statistically significant change in the mean volumetric portal flow rate in subjects during 2-6 months of weight loss. However, portal flow rate normalized to body weight or BMI increased significantly.

Lael K Ceriani¹, Mark Barahman¹, Tanya Wolfson², Danielle N Batakis¹, Robert H Lubenow¹, Jake T Weeks¹, Kyle A Hasenstab¹, Timoteo Delgado¹, Yesenia Covarrubias¹, Celene Gonzalez¹, Michael S Middleton¹, Walter C Henderson¹, David T Harris³, Nikolaos Panagiotopolous³, Scott B Reeder³, Kathryn J Fowler¹, and Claude B Sirlin^1
1Radiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States, ²Computational and Applied Statistics Laboratory, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States, ³University of Wisconsin Madison, Madison, WI, United States

The purpose of this study was to identify the prognostic value of baseline MRI-determined imaging biomarkers for liver volume changes following low-calorie liquid diet in bariatric surgery patients

Srijyotsna Volety^1,2, Diego Hernando^1,2, and Ali Pirasteh^1,2
1Radiology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, United States, ²Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, United States

We evaluated the reproducibility of liver ADC measurements across acquisition parameters using low spatial resolution DWI with M1 optimized diffusion imaging waveforms (MODI) and the routinely clinically utilized monopolar (MONO) waveforms. We also evaluated the effects of various M1 values as well as those of breath-hold and respiratory-triggering on MODI-DWI liver ADC measurements at lower resolutions than utilized in clinical practice. MONO-DWI liver ADC suffered from bias and resolution-dependence in the left lobe while MODI-DWI liver ADC did not demonstrate this effect. MODI-DWI liver ADC did not demonstrate bias with respect to resolution, M1, or breathing technique.

Gregory Simchick^1,2, Ruiyang Zhao^1,2, Qing Yuan³, Mounes Aliyari Ghasabeh⁴, Stefan Ruschke⁵, Dimitrios C Karampinos⁵, David Harris¹, Ryan J Mattison⁶, Michael R Jeng⁷, Ivan Pedrosa^3,8, Ihab R Kanel³, Sheryas Vasanawala⁹, Takeshi Yokoo^3,8, Scott B Reeder^1,2,6,10,11, and Diego Hernando^1,2
1Radiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States, ²Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States, ³Radiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States, ⁴Radiology, The John Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States, ⁵Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany, ⁶Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States, ⁷Pediatrics - Hematology & Oncology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, United States, ⁸Advanced Imaging Research Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States, ⁹Radiology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, United States, ¹⁰Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States, ¹¹Emergency Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States

Recently, a multi-center, multi-vendor study evaluating the reproducibility of R2* vs liver iron concentration (LIC) calibrations was completed, based on a centralized offline R2* reconstruction. However, the relationship between the offline reconstructed R2* maps and the online vendor-provided R2* maps remains unknown. In this work, subjects were recruited at four centers and imaged using 1.5T and 3T MRI scanners from three vendors. R2* maps were obtained using various offline reconstructions and compared to the online vendor reconstructions to determine R2* ranges of agreement. This may enable improved clinical interpretation of vendor R2* measurements using emerging offline R2*-LIC calibrations.

Petr Sedivy¹, Tereza Dusilova¹, Barbora Setinova¹, Monika Dezortova¹, Martin Burian¹, Eva Krauzova², Michaela Siklova³, Lenka Rossmeislova³, Michal Koc³, Milan Hajek¹, and Jan Kovar^4
1MR unit, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic, ²Department of Internal Medicine, Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, University Hospital Královské Vinohrady, Prague, Czech Republic, ³Department of Pathophysiology, Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic, ⁴Centre of Experimental Medicine, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic

Our MRS and MRI study investigates the liver response to two days of fasting followed by two days of isocaloric high carbohydrate refeeding in lean and obese women. Hepatic fat content increased after fasting in lean women whereas it did not change in obese women. The tendency to lose or accumulate fat during fasting could be related to the overall initial hepatic fat content. Moreover, liver volume significantly decreased and increased during fasting and refeeding, respectively.

Rossella Canese¹, Gabriele De Luca², Taljinder Singh¹, Ambra Dell'Orso³, Egidio Iorio¹, Mattea Chirico¹, Maria Elena Pisanu¹, Paola Fortini³, and Valeria SImonelli^3
1Core Facilities, Istituto Superiore di Sanita', Rome, Italy, ²Oncology and Molecular Medicine Dept, Istituto Superiore di Sanita', Rome, Italy, ³Environmental and Health Dept, Istituto Superiore di Sanita', Rome, Italy

Oxidative stress is implicated in cancer, neurodegeneration and aging. hMTH1 is a hydrolase able to remove oxidized precursors from nucleotide’s pool, thus avoiding oxidative nucleic acids damage. Overexpression of hMTH1 in mice is protective against oxidative damage, neurodegeneration and prolongs life span. Our study showed that the overexpression of hMTH1 in mice fed with high fat diet (HFD), a dietary regimen linked to inflammation, is associated with increased brown interscapular fat (linked to protection from obesity) and with reduced perivesical fat volume (indicator of poor cardiovascular outcomes) up to four weeks. These effects seem to be reversed by prolonging HFD.

Michal R Tomaszewski¹, Hyking Haley¹, Xiangjun Meng¹, and Corin O Miller^1
1Translational Imaging, Merck & Co, West Point, PA, United States

Robust measurement of brown and white adipose tissue physiology in response to treatment is essential in pharmaceutical research. In this work we propose for the first time that the diet-induced obesity (DIO) mouse model can be successfully used in conjunction with both Multi Gradient Echo and Fast Spin Echo based methods for sensitive characterization of changes in brown (BAT) and white adipose tissue following pharmaceutical intervention, showing more consistent responses than lean mice. Spatial heterogeneity within BAT and response dynamics are reported, relevant for future use of the model and the proposed framework in weight loss and drug characterization studies.