Clinical and Translational Research
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Feb 21, 2021; 27(7): 609-623
Published online Feb 21, 2021. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v27.i7.609
Quantitative multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging can aid non-alcoholic steatohepatitis diagnosis in a Japanese cohort
Kento Imajo, Louise Tetlow, Andrea Dennis, Elizabeth Shumbayawonda, Sofia Mouchti, Timothy J Kendall, Eve Fryer, Shogi Yamanaka, Yasushi Honda, Takaomi Kessoku, Yuji Ogawa, Masato Yoneda, Satoru Saito, Catherine Kelly, Matt D Kelly, Rajarshi Banerjee, Atsushi Nakajima
Kento Imajo, Yasushi Honda, Takaomi Kessoku, Yuji Ogawa, Satoru Saito, Atsushi Nakajima, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, Yokohama 236-0004, Japan
Louise Tetlow, Andrea Dennis, Elizabeth Shumbayawonda, Sofia Mouchti, Catherine Kelly, Matt D Kelly, Rajarshi Banerjee, Innovation, Perspectum, Oxford OX4 2LL, United Kingdom
Timothy J Kendall, Centre for Inflammation Research, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, Edinburgh EH16 4TJ, United Kingdom
Eve Fryer, Department of Cellular Pathology, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford OX3 9DU, United Kingdom
Shogi Yamanaka, Anatomic and Clinical Pathology Department, Yokohoma City University Hospital, Yokohoma 236-0004, Japan
Masato Yoneda, Department of Gastroenterology, Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama 236-0004, Japan
Author contributions: Imajo K and Nakajima A developed the study concept, protocols and initiated the project; Kelly MD and Banerjee R assisted in the further development of the protocol and drafting the clinical study protocol; Imajo K, Nakajima A, Fryer E, Kendall TJ, Yamanaka S, Honda Y, Kessoku T, Ogawa Y, Yoneda M and Saito S contributed to the data collection; Tetlow L, Dennis AM, Shumbayawonda E to the data analysis; Imajo K, Tetlow L, Nakajima A, Dennis AM, Shumbayawonda E, Kelly C, Kelly MD and Banerjee R drafted and completed the manuscript. All authors contributed to the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was conducted in accordance with the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki 2013, was approved by the Ethics Committee of Yokohama City University Hospital and was registered as a clinical trial (UMIN Clinical Trials Registry: UMIN000026145).
Conflict-of-interest statement: Perspectum Ltd is a privately funded commercial enterprise that develops medical devices to address unmet clinical needs, including LiverMultiScan®. LT, ES, AD, MK are all employees of Perspectum. RB is CEO of Perspectum. KI, and AN have no relevant disclosures to this study. TK and EF undertake consultancy work for Perspectum.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (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/
Corresponding author: Andrea Dennis, PhD, Research Scientist, Innovation, Perspectum, Gemini One, 5520 John Smith Drive, Oxford OX4 2LL, United Kingdom. andrea.dennis@perspectum.com
Received: August 28, 2020
Peer-review started: August 28, 2020
First decision: November 3, 2020
Revised: November 17, 2020
Accepted: December 28, 2020
Article in press: December 28, 2020
Published online: February 21, 2021
Core Tip

Core Tip: There is growing interest in the utility of non-invasive tests in the management of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). We explored how magnetic resonance imaging technology can stratify patients with simple fatty liver disease from those with NASH. Our results showed that quantitative magnetic resonance imaging derived metrics showed the strongest correlations to the histological pathological components of NASH with very few technical failures. We also observed very high levels of inter-reader disagreement in histopathological biopsy reads, highlighting the pressing need for alternative diagnostic tests for NASH. Our work therefore supports the use of this non-invasive technology in day-to-day practice.