Published online Sep 6, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i25.8906
Peer-review started: January 25, 2022
First decision: May 9, 2022
Revised: May 25, 2022
Accepted: July 22, 2022
Article in press: July 22, 2022
Published online: September 6, 2022
Processing time: 213 Days and 0.2 Hours
Early quantitative assessment of liver fat content is essential for patients with fatty liver disease. Mounting evidence has shown that magnetic resonance (MR) technique has high accuracy in the quantitative analysis of fatty liver, and is suitable for monitoring the therapeutic effect on fatty liver. However, many packaging methods and postprocessing functions have puzzled radiologists in clinical applications. Therefore, selecting a quantitative MR imaging technique for patients with fatty liver disease remains challenging.
To provide information for the proper selection of commonly used quantitative MR techniques to quantify fatty liver.
We completed a systematic literature review of quantitative MR techniques for detecting fatty liver, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses protocol. Studies were retrieved from PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases, and their quality was assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Studies criteria. The Reference Citation Analysis database (https://www.referencecitationanalysis.com) was used to analyze citation of articles which were included in this review.
Forty studies were included for spectroscopy, two-point Dixon imaging, and multiple-point Dixon imaging comparing liver biopsy to other imaging methods. The advantages and disadvantages of each of the three techniques and their clinical diagnostic performances were analyzed.
The proton density fat fraction derived from multiple-point Dixon imaging is a noninvasive method for accurate quantitative measurement of hepatic fat content in the diagnosis and monitoring of fatty liver progression.
Core Tip: This study focused on properly selecting commonly used quantitative magnetic resonance (MR) techniques to quantify fatty liver disease. We completed a systematic literature review of quantitative MR techniques for detecting fatty liver, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses protocol. Three techniques including spectroscopy, two-point Dixon imaging, and multiple-point Dixon imaging, were compared. We found that proton density fat fraction derived from multiple-point Dixon imaging is a noninvasive method for accurate quantitative measurement of hepatic fat content. It can be used to diagnose fatty liver disease and monitor disease progression as well as treatment effects.