MRI proton density and fat fraction in non-obese NAFLD patients with different liver histological characteristics

Abstract

Abstract: Objective To compare the clinical data of non-obese nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients with those of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients, and analyze the performance of magnetic resonance imaging-estimated proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF) of non-obese NAFLD patients with different liver histological features such as the degrees of steatosis and inflammation, and the stages of liver fibrosis. Methods A total of 74 non-obese NAFLD patients (40 males and 34 females) aged (42.3±11.4) years from January 2019 to July 2021 were collected. There were 92 patients with CHB (64 males and 28 females) with an average age of (38.1±10.3) years. The diagnosis of non-obese NAFLD and CHB meet the standard criteria. The clinical data of non-obese NAFLD patients were compared with CHB patients. The associations between MRI-PDFF manifestations with different liver histological features were analyzed. Results There were 29 cases (39.2%) and 11 cases (12.0%) of hypertension in non-obese NAFLD and CHB patients, respectively, with statistical significance (χ²=16.629, P<0.05). The levels of total triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in non-obese NAFLD patients were (2.4±1.0) mmol/L, (5.3±1.4) mmol/L, (3.5±0.9) mmol/L and (1.0±0.4) mmol/L, respectively, which were significantly higher than those of [(1.2±0.6) mmol/L, (4.0±1.0) mmol/L, (2.3±0.6) mmol/L and (1.5±0.6) mmol/L in CHB patients (t=10.502, 4.104, 4.230, -5.018, P<0.05). The MRI-PDFF of non-obese NAFLD and CHB patients were (16.5±5.2)% and (3.8±1.1)%, respectively, with statistical significance (t=22.428, P<0.05). For the degrees of hepatic steatosis of the non-obese NAFLD patients, 10 cases were in S0, 25 cases were in S1, 28 cases were in S2 and 11 cases were in S3. The MRI-PDFF of each degree of hepatic steatosis was (3.3±1.5)%, (9.2±3.3)%, (16.2±5.0)% and (21.4±6.4)%, respectively, with statistical significance (t=12.234, P<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in MRI-PDFF among patients with different liver inflammatory degrees and liver fibrosis stages (P>0.05). Conclusion With the increased severity of liver steatosis in non-obese NAFLD patients, The MRI-PDFF significantly increase which is helpful to quantitatively evaluate liver fat content and improve the diagnosis.

Key words: Non-obese nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, Magnetic resonance imaging-proton density fat fraction, Degree of hepatic steatosis

WANG Tie-gang, LI Xiao-ming, ZHU Dan-yang. MRI proton density and fat fraction in non-obese NAFLD patients with different liver histological characteristics[J]. Chinese Hepatolgy, 2022, 27(5): 573-575.

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