Total Liver Fat Quantifi cation Using Three-Dimensio nalRespiratory Self-Navigated MRI Sequence

Abstract

Purpose MRI can produce quantitative liver fat fraction (FF) maps noninvasively, which can help to improve diagnoses of fatty liver diseases. However, most sequences acquire several two-dimensional (2D) slices during one or more breath-holds, which may be difficult for patients with limited breath-holding capacity. A whole-liver 3D FF map could also be obtained in a single acquisition by applying a reliable breathing-motion correction method. Several correction techniques are available for 3D imaging, but they use external devices, interrupt acquisition, or jeopardize the spatial resolution. To overcome these issues, a proof-of-concept study introducing a self-navigated 3D three-point Dixon sequence is presented here.MethodsA respiratory self-gating strategy acquiring a center k-space profile was integrated into a three-point Dixon sequence. We obtained 3D FF maps from a water-fat emulsions phantom and fifteen volunteers. This sequence was compared with multi-2D breath-hold and 3D free-breathing approaches.ResultsOur 3D three-point Dixon self-navigated sequence could correct for respiratory-motion artifacts and provided more precise FF measurements than breath-hold multi-2D and 3D free-breathing techniques.ConclusionOur 3D respiratory self-gating fat quantification sequence could correct for respiratory motion artifacts and yield more-precise FF measurements.