Prospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 7, 2015; 21(21): 6736-6744
Published online Jun 7, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i21.6736
3.0T 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy for assessment of steatosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C
Qian Zhang, Hui-Mao Zhang, Wen-Qian Qi, Yong-Gui Zhang, Ping Zhao, Jian Jiao, Jiang-Bin Wang, Chun-Yu Zhang
Qian Zhang, Wen-Qian Qi, Yong-Gui Zhang, Ping Zhao, Jian Jiao, Jiang-Bin Wang, Department of Gastroenterology, China-Japan Union Hospital Affiliated to Jilin University, Changchun 130000, Jilin Province, China
Hui-Mao Zhang, Chun-Yu Zhang, Department of Radiology, 1st Hospital Affiliated to Jilin University, Changchun 130000, Jilin Province, China
Author contributions: Zhang Q and Zhang CY performed the majority of experiments; Qi WQ, Zhang YG and Zhao P provided vital reagents and analytical tools and were also involved in editing the manuscript; Zhang HM, Jiao J and Wang JB provided the collection of all the human material in addition to providing financial support for this work; Zhang Q and Zhang CY designed the study and wrote the manuscript.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30970415.
Ethics approval: The study was reviewed and approved by the Jilin Provincial Health Office of key projects and Institutional Review Board.
Clinical trial registration: This study is registered at http://www.chictr.org/cn/. The registration identification number is ChiCTR-ECS-13004009.
Informed consent: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest: All authors have no conflicts of interest regarding this paper.
Data sharing: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Chun-Yu Zhang, Department of Radiology, 1st Hospital Affiliated to Jilin University, 71 Xinmin street, Changchun 130000, Jilin Province, China. zhangchunyu@163.com
Telephone: +86-431-83995968 Fax: +86-431-84641986
Received: November 6, 2014
Peer-review started: November 8, 2014
First decision: November 26, 2014
Revised: January 9, 2015
Accepted: February 13, 2015
Article in press: February 13, 2015
Published online: June 7, 2015
Processing time: 217 Days and 3 Hours
Abstract

AIM: To investigate the utility of 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H MRS) as a noninvasive test for steatosis in patients infected with hepatitis C virus.

METHODS: Ninety patients with chronic hepatitis C and pathology data underwent 3.0T 1H MRS, and the results of MRS and pathological analysis were compared.

RESULTS: This group of patients included 26 people with mild fatty liver (28.89%), 16 people with moderate fatty liver (17.78%), 18 people with severe fatty liver (20.0%), and 30 people without fatty liver (33.33%). The water peak was near 4.7 parts per million (ppm), and the lipid peak was near 1.3 ppm. Analysis of variance revealed that differences in the lipid peak, the area under the lipid peak, ratio of the lipid peak to the water peak, and ratio of the area under the lipid peak to the area under the water peak were statistically significant among the groups. Specifically, as the severity of fatty liver increased, the value of each index increased correspondingly. In the pairwise comparisons, the mean lipid peak, area under the lipid peak, ratio of the lipid peak to the water peak, and ratio of the area under the lipid peak to the area under the water peak were significantly different between the no fatty liver and moderate fatty liver groups, whereas no differences were noted between the severe fatty liver group and the mild or moderate fatty liver group. Area under the ROC curve (AUC) of area ratio in lipid and water and ratio in lipid and water in the no fatty liver group to mild fatty liver group, mild fatty liver group to moderate fatty liver group, and moderate fatty liver disease group to severe fatty liver group, were 0.705, 0.900, and 0.975, respectively.

CONCLUSION: 1H MRS is a noninvasive technique that can be used to provide information on the effect of liver steatosis on hepatic metabolic processes. This study indicates that the 1H MRS can be used as an indicator of steatosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C.

Keywords: 1H; Magnetic resonance spectroscopy; Hepatitis C; Antiviral therapy

Core tip: The aim of this study was to investigate the utility of 1H magnetic resonance imaging spectroscopy (1H MRS) as a noninvasive test of steatosis in patients infected with hepatitis C virus. Ninety chronic hepatitis C patients with pathology data underwent 3.0T 1H MRS. 1H MRS is a noninvasive technique that can be used to provide liver steatosis information on hepatic metabolic processes. This study indicates that the 1H MRS can be used as an indicator of steatosis in chronic hepatitis C patients.