VIABILITY OF ACCELERATED SPIN ECHO SINGLE POINT IMAGING FOR LIPID COMPOSITION MAPPING IN FATTY LIVER DISEASE

Abstract

Lipid composition may have the potential to predict disease progression in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) studies can provide this lipid composition information but single voxel techniques have limited spatial coverage. Spectroscopic imaging techniques provide improved spatial coverage, but are inherently slow. This thesis uses spin echo single point imaging (SE-SPI), accelerated with compressed sensing (CS), for lipid composition mapping. Oil phantom studies using preclinical and clinical systems showed similar trends in lipid composition when comparing CS SE-SPI to conventional MRS, although clinical SE-SPI scans showed increased variability in lipid composition measurements. In a mouse model of NAFLD, CS SE-SPI showed changes in lipid composition in agreement with literature results. This work demonstrates the viability of CS SESPI in measuring lipid composition. Future implementation of CS SE-SPI in clinical cases will permit a more thorough investigation of lipid composition as a biomarker of NAFLD progression.