Effect of Gd-EOB-DTPA on hepatic fat quantification using high-speed T2-corrected multi-echo acquisition in (1)H MR spectroscopy.

PURPOSE: To determine whether gadolinium ethoxybenzyldiethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA) administration affects hepatic fat quantification by magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) using the fast breath-hold high-speed T2-corrected multiecho (HISTO) technique.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventy-six patients underwent Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced liver MR and 15sec breath-hold HISTO MRS (4 times), twice before and twice after Gd-EOB-DTPA administration. Two consecutive MRSs were performed immediately before the dynamic study. Post-contrast MRS was performed twice continuously, approximately 15min after contrast injection, prior to obtaining 20-min hepatobiliary phase images. We used paired t-test and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) to evaluate the variability of the mean fat fraction (FF) on pre-contrast MRS and post-contrast MRS and the effect of the contrast agent on the mean FF.

RESULTS: The mean FFs were not significantly different between pre-contrast MRS and post-contrast MRS (6.50%±6.54 versus 6.70%±6.61, P=0.15). The ICC of FF calculation between pre- and post-contrast MRS was 0.984. The ICCs for the FF magnitude between pre- and post-contrast MRS were 0.452, 0.771, and 0.995 for FF <5%, FF 5-10%, and FF ≥10%, respectively.

CONCLUSION: Gd-EOB-DTPA does not appear to influence hepatic fat quantification, especially for patients with hepatic steatosis.