How to select the quantitative magnetic resonance technique for subjects with fatty liver: A systematic review

Table 3 Studies reporting on the measurement of the hepatic fat content with multiple-point Dixon imaging versus liver biopsy and other imaging methods

Ref.	Year	Study design	Age (year)	N	Etiology	Field strength sequence	Comparison	Interval	Results
Noureddin et al[79]	2013	Randomized		50	Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease	MRI-PDFF	MRS	0 and 24 wk	r2 = 0.98; P < 0.0001
Idilman et al[28]	2013	Prospective	44.7 ± 13.1	70	Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease	1.5 T. IDEAL-IQ	Biopsy	14.5 d (0–259)	r = 0.820; The correlation of PDFF in mild hepatic steatosis was found to be better than that of moderate or severe steatosis (r = 0.835 and r = 0.402, respectively; P = 0.003)
Deng et al[51]	2014	Prospective	3–16	10	Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease	1.5 T. Multi-point Dixon	Biopsy		r = 0.90; P = 0.0004
Kukuk et al[59]	2015		51.7 ± 15.2	59	Liver disorders	3.0 T. Six echo-mDixon	Biopsy	≤ 6 wk	r = 0.967, P < 0.001. Slightly a higher hepatic fat contents than q Histo (mean difference 2.1% for 6E-mDixon and 1.9% for MRS)
Rehm et al[52]	2015	Prospective	13.3 ± 2 (11–22)	132	Healthy females	3.0 T. Multi-echo Dixon	STEAM (TE = 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 ms)		r = 0.96
Schwimmer et al[80]	2015	Prospective	14	174	No steatosis and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease	3.0 T. Multi-echo Dixon	Biopsy	57 ± 51 d	r = 0.725; P < 0.01
Idilman et al[55]	2016	Retrospective	41.7 ± 14.6	19	Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease	1.5 T. DEAL-IQ	Biopsy		r = 0.743; P < 0.001
Hetterich et al[39]	2016	Prospective	57.2 ± 9.4	215		3.0 T. STEAM (TE = 12, 24, 36, 48, and 72 ms)	Multi-echo Dixon		r = 0.96; P = 0.001
Middleton et al[81]	2017	Randomized	51 ± 11	113	Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis	1.5 T or 3.0 T. Six echo-mDixon	Biopsy	51 d	r = 0.80; P < 0.001
Kang et al[46]	2018	Prospective	47.3 ± 14.9	29	NAFLD (34). Alcoholic liver disease (13). Liver cirrhosis (9)	3.0 T. mDIXON-Quant sequence	Biopsy	Same day	r = 0.809; P < 0.001
Pickhardt et al[82]	2018	Retrospective	54 ± 12	221		1.5 T or 3.0 T. MRI-PDFF	CT	0–158 mo	r = 0.88 (≤ 1 mo) substantially worsened with increasing time
Guo et al[83]	2020	PProspective	52.6 (22–83)	400	Healthy adults and older adults	3.0 T mDixon-Quant sequence	CT	Same day	r = 0.79; P < 0.001

MRS: Magnetic resonance spectroscopy; PDFF: Proton density fat fraction; TE: Echo time; BMI: Body mass index; CT: Computed tomography; Blank: No information; PRESS: Point-resolved spectroscopy; STEAM: Stimulated-echo acquisition mode.