TY - JOUR
T1 - Quantification of low fat contents: a comparison of MR imaging and spectroscopy methods at 1.5 and 3 T.
AU - Månsson, Sven
AU - Peterson, Pernilla
AU - Johansson, Edvin
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) has long been considered the golden standard for non-invasive measurement of tissue fat content. With improved techniques for fat/water separation, imaging has become an alternative to MRS for fat quantification. Several imaging models have been proposed, but their performance relative to MRS at very low fat contents is yet not fully established. In this work, imaging and spectroscopy were compared at 1.5 T and 3 T in phantoms with 0-3% fat fraction (FF). We propose a multispectral model with individual a priori R(2) relaxation rates for water and fat, and a common unknown R(2)' relaxation. Magnitude and complex image reconstructions were also compared. Best accuracy was obtained with the imaging method at 1.5 T. At 3 T, the FFs were underestimated due to larger fat-water phase shifts. Agreement between measured and true FF was excellent for the imaging method at 1.5 T (imaging: FF(meas)=0.98 FF(true)-0.01%, spectroscopy: FF(meas)=0.77 FF(true)+0.08%), and fair at 3 T (imaging: FF(meas)=0.91 FF(true)-0.19%, spectroscopy: FF(meas)=0.79 FF(true)+0.02%). The imaging method was able to quantify FFs down to approx. 0.5%. We conclude that the suggested imaging model is capable of fat quantification with accuracy and precision similar to or better than spectroscopy and offers an improvement vs. a model with a common R(2)* relaxation only.
AB - Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) has long been considered the golden standard for non-invasive measurement of tissue fat content. With improved techniques for fat/water separation, imaging has become an alternative to MRS for fat quantification. Several imaging models have been proposed, but their performance relative to MRS at very low fat contents is yet not fully established. In this work, imaging and spectroscopy were compared at 1.5 T and 3 T in phantoms with 0-3% fat fraction (FF). We propose a multispectral model with individual a priori R(2) relaxation rates for water and fat, and a common unknown R(2)' relaxation. Magnitude and complex image reconstructions were also compared. Best accuracy was obtained with the imaging method at 1.5 T. At 3 T, the FFs were underestimated due to larger fat-water phase shifts. Agreement between measured and true FF was excellent for the imaging method at 1.5 T (imaging: FF(meas)=0.98 FF(true)-0.01%, spectroscopy: FF(meas)=0.77 FF(true)+0.08%), and fair at 3 T (imaging: FF(meas)=0.91 FF(true)-0.19%, spectroscopy: FF(meas)=0.79 FF(true)+0.02%). The imaging method was able to quantify FFs down to approx. 0.5%. We conclude that the suggested imaging model is capable of fat quantification with accuracy and precision similar to or better than spectroscopy and offers an improvement vs. a model with a common R(2)* relaxation only.
U2 - 10.1016/j.mri.2012.04.023
DO - 10.1016/j.mri.2012.04.023
M3 - Article
C2 - 22835942
SN - 1873-5894
JO - Magnetic Resonance Imaging
JF - Magnetic Resonance Imaging
ER -