Dual-Energy Computed Tomography Versus Conventional Magnetic Resonance In-Phase/Opposed-Phase Imaging for Liver Fat Fraction Quantification: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background/Objectives: Multiple imaging modalities are available for non-invasive hepatic fat quantification. We performed a hypothesis-generating methods-comparison study to compare liver fat fraction (FF) measurements obtained using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in-phase/opposed-phase (IP/OP) with dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) multi-material decomposition (MMD) techniques.

Methods

This retrospective method-comparison study included 45 patients who underwent abdominal DECT and MRI. Corresponding 2-cm2 regions of interest were placed in hepatic segments VI and VII. DECT and MRI fat fraction measurements were compared using Spearman’s correlation and Bland–Altman and Passing–Bablok analyses. Exploratory receiver operating characteristic area under the curve (ROC AUC) analyses evaluated the ability of DECT fat fraction measurements to discriminate MRI-defined steatosis thresholds.