Applications of magnetic resonance spectroscopy for noninvasive assessment of hepatic steatosis

MR spectroscopy is a noninvasive technique to quantify hepatic steatosis. MR spectroscopy provides information about the chemical composition of tissues in a spectrum. Hepatic steatosis is characterized by accumulation of fat in the liver. The prevalence of hepatic steatosis is increasing due to its relation with obesity and insulin resistance in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This thesis describes the applications of MR spectroscopy (primarily on 3T) for noninvasive assessment of hepatic steatosis. Several aspects of MR spectroscopy were studied such as a meta-analysis of literature, reproducibility, comparison of accuracy of available imaging modalities for hepatic steatosis assessment, hepatic steatosis assessment in a cohort of morbidly obese patients, evaluation of hepatic steatosis in an experimental rat model and the feasibility of MR spectroscopy for hepatic lipid composition analysis in rats and patients.