Non-invasive assessment of hepatic fat accumulation in chronic hepatitis C by 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Abstract Background Liver biopsy is the standard method for diagnosis of hepatic steatosis, but is invasive and carries some risk of morbidity. Aims and methods Quantification of hepatocellular lipid content (HCL) with non-invasive single voxel 1 H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) at 3 T was compared with histological grading and biochemical analysis of liver biopsies in 29 patients with chronic hepatitis C. Body mass index, indices of insulin resistance (homeostasis model assessment index, HOMA-IR), serum lipids and serum liver transaminases were also quantified. Results HCL as assessed by 1 H MRS linearly correlated ( r  = 0.70, p 1 H MRS ( r  = 0.63, p r  = 0.559, p n  = 17). Conclusion Localized 1 H MRS is a valid and useful method for quantification of HCL content in patients with chronic hepatitis C and can be easily applied to non-invasively monitoring of steatosis during repeated follow-up measurements in a clinical setting.