Application of multi-echo Dixon and MRS in quantifying hepatic fat content and staging liver fibrosis

This study associated the liver proton density fat fraction (PDFF), measured by multi-echo Dixon (ME-Dixon) and breath-hold single-voxel high-speed T2-corrected multi-echo 1 H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (HISTO) at 1.5 T, with serum biomarkers and liver fibrosis stages. This prospective study enrolled 75 patients suspected of liver fibrosis and scheduled for liver biopsy and 23 healthy participants with normal liver function. The participant underwent ME-Dixon and HISTO scanning. The agreement of PDFF measured by ME-Dixon (PDFF-D) and HISTO (PDFF-H) were compared. Correlations between PDFF and serum fat biomarkers (total cholesterol, triglyceride, and high- and low-density lipoproteins) and the liver fibrosis stages were assessed. PDFF were compared among the liver fibrosis stages (F0–F4) based on clinical liver biopsies. The Bland–Altman plot showed agreement between PDFF-D and PDFF-H(LoA, − 4.44 to 6.75), which have high consistency (ICC 0.752, P