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Comparative Study
. 2014 Mar;71(3):1158-65.
doi: 10.1002/mrm.24775.

Bone marrow fat quantification in the presence of trabecular bone: initial comparison between water-fat imaging and single-voxel MRS

Dimitrios C Karampinos  1 , Gerd Melkus, Thomas Baum, Jan S Bauer, Ernst J Rummeny, Roland Krug
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Bone marrow fat quantification in the presence of trabecular bone: initial comparison between water-fat imaging and single-voxel MRS

Dimitrios C Karampinos et al. Magn Reson Med. 2014 Mar.

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to test the relative performance of chemical shift-based water-fat imaging in measuring bone marrow fat fraction in the presence of trabecular bone, having as reference standard the single-voxel magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS).

Methods: Six-echo gradient echo imaging and single-voxel MRS measurements were performed on the proximal femur of seven healthy volunteers. The bone marrow fat spectrum was characterized based on the magnitude of measurable fat peaks and an a priori knowledge of the chemical structure of triglycerides, in order to accurately extract the water peak from the overlapping broad fat peaks in MRS. The imaging-based fat fraction results were then compared to the MRS-based results both without and with taking into consideration the presence of short T2* water components in MRS.

Results: There was a significant underestimation of the fat fraction using the MRS model not accounting for short T2* species with respect to the imaging-based fat fraction. A good equivalency was observed between the fat fraction using the MRS model accounting for short T2* species and the imaging-based fat fraction (R(2) = 0.87).

Conclusion: The consideration of the short T2* water species effect on bone marrow fat quantification is essential when comparing MRS-based and imaging-based fat fraction results.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Model of bone marrow triglyceride structure: (a) typical proximal femur MR spectrum (acquisitions with center frequency at the main fat peak and at the water peak), (b) relationship between area of peak C and area of peaks A+B (for all acquired spectra with center frequency at the main fat peak), and (c) relationship between area of peak D and area of peak C (for spectra with center frequency at the main fat peak and with fat peak linewidth smaller than 0.4 ppm).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Chemical shift displacement effect on MRS-based fat fraction: (a) relationship between fat fraction based on combined spectra and fat fraction based on acquisitions with center frequency on the main fat peak and on the water peak (the dashed line represents the unity), and (b) corresponding fat fraction bias (the dashed line represents zero bias).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Bone marrow MR spectra using fitting not accounting for short T2* water species (a-c) and accounting for short T2* water species (d-f): (a) and (d) full spectra, (b) and (e) spectra zoomed in water peak region, (c) and (f) superposition of decomposed modeled peaks in water peak region.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) Imaging-based fat fraction map and typical MRS voxel locations in neck (N), greater trochanter (T) and head regions (H), and (b) time evolution of magnitude signal: experimental gradient echo imaging signal, fitted T2-corrected MRS time domain signal accounting for short T2* water species, and fitted T2-corrected MRS time domain signal not accounting for short T2* water species.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Fat fraction (FF) results comparison between: (a) water-fat imaging and MRS with fitting not accounting for short T2* species, and (b) water-fat imaging and MRS with fitting accounting for short T2* species. The solid line represents the linear fit derived from linear regression analysis and the dashed line represents the unity.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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