Effect of hepatic steatosis on native T1 mapping of 3T magnetic resonance imaging in the assessment of T1 values for patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Abstract Purpose This study investigated whether T1 values in native T1 mapping of 3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the liver were affected by the fatty component. Methods This prospective study involved 340 participants from a population-based cohort study between May 8, 2018 and August 8, 2019. Data obtained included: (1) hepatic stiffness according to magnetic resonance elastography (MRE); (2) T1 value according to T1 mapping; (3) fat fraction and iron concentration from multi-echo Dixon; and (4) clinical indices of hepatic steatosis including body mass index, waist circumference, history of diabetes, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, and triglycerides. The correlations between T1 value and fat fraction, and between T1 value and liver stiffness were assessed using Pearson's correlation coefficient. The independent two-sample t-test was used to evaluate the differences in T1 values according to the presence or absence of hepatic steatosis, and the one-way analysis of variance was used to evaluate the difference in T1 value by grading of hepatic steatosis according to MRI-based proton density fat fraction (PDFF). In addition, univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses were performed to determine whether other variables influenced the T1 value. Results T1 value showed a positive correlation with the fat fraction obtained from PDFF (r = 0.615, P  Conclusion The T1 value obtained by current T1 mapping of 3T MRI was affected by the liver fat component and several other factors such as liver stiffness, iron concentration, and inflammation.