Absolute Quantification of Phosphor-Containing Metabolites in the Liver Using 31 P MRSI and Hepatic Lipid Volume Correction at 7T Suggests No Dependence on Body Mass Index or Age.

Abstract

BackgroundHepatic disorders are often associated with changes in the concentration of phosphorus‐31 (31P) metabolites. Absolute quantification offers a way to assess those metabolites directly but introduces obstacles, especially at higher field strengths (B0 ≥ 7T).PurposeTo introduce a feasible method for in vivo absolute quantification of hepatic 31P metabolites and assess its clinical value by probing differences related to volunteers' age and body mass index (BMI).Study TypeProspective cohort.Subjects/PhantomsFour healthy volunteers included in the reproducibility study and 19 healthy subjects arranged into three subgroups according to BMI and age. Phantoms containing 31P solution for correction and validation.Field Strength/SequencePhase‐encoded 3D pulse‐acquire chemical shift imaging for 31P and single‐volume 1H spectroscopy to assess the hepatocellular lipid content at 7T.AssessmentA phantom replacement method was used. Spectra located in the liver with sufficient signal‐to‐noise ratio and no contamination from muscle tissue, were used to calculate following metabolite concentrations: adenosine triphosphates (γ‐ and α‐ATP); glycerophosphocholine (GPC); glycerophosphoethanolamine (GPE); inorganic phosphate (Pi); phosphocholine (PC); phosphoethanolamine (PE); uridine diphosphate‐glucose (UDPG); nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide‐phosphate (NADH); and phosphatidylcholine (PtdC). Correction for hepatic lipid volume fraction (HLVF) was performed.Statistical TestsDifferences assessed by analysis of variance with Bonferroni correction for multiple comparison and with a Student's t‐test when appropriate.ResultsThe concentrations for the young lean group corrected for HLVF were 2.56 ± 0.10 mM for γ‐ATP (mean ± standard deviation), α‐ATP: 2.42 ± 0.15 mM, GPC: 3.31 ± 0.27 mM, GPE: 3.38 ± 0.87 mM, Pi: 1.42 ± 0.20 mM, PC: 1.47 ± 0.24 mM, PE: 1.61 ± 0.20 mM, UDPG: 0.74 ± 0.17 mM, NADH: 1.21 ± 0.38 mM, and PtdC: 0.43 ± 0.10 mM. Differences found in ATP levels between lean and overweight volunteers vanished after HLVF correction.Data ConclusionExploiting the excellent spectral resolution at 7T and using the phantom replacement method, we were able to quantify up to 10 31P‐containing hepatic metabolites. The combination of 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging data acquisition and HLVF correction was not able to show a possible dependence of 31P metabolite concentrations on BMI or age, in the small healthy population used in this study. Level of Evidence: 2 Technical Efficacy: Stage 1J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2019;49:597–607.