Signa excite hdxt 3.0 t mr scanner

MRI was used to measure the proportion of fat in liver, expressed as liver fat content (LFC), as well as visceral fat volume. Validity of MRI to quantify liver fat has been established in previous studies.^{18 (link),19 (link)} Approximately 50 5mm axial slices were obtained from the top of the liver to the pelvis using a series of 10–15 second breath holds on a GE Signa EXCITE HDxt 3.0T MR scanner. Iterative decomposition of water and fat with echo asymmetry and least-squares estimation (IDEAL) was used to delineate visceral fat depots and quantify organ fat.^{20 (link),21 (link)}Image post-processing for fat analysis and quantification was performed using Synapse 3D (Fujifilm, Stamford, CT). Fat fraction maps were used as the base images for segmentation. For each scan, three volumes were manually segmented - total body volume (excluded noisy outer body voxels), abdominal cavity volume, and whole liver volume. Visceral fat volume was created from the abdominal cavity volume. A ≥50% fat fraction threshold was applied on a per-voxel basis to all fat volumes to remove lean tissue. The visceral fat volume was further manually segmented to remove intramuscular and digestive tract fat. The liver volume was eroded by two pixels to generate a region of interest completely within the body of the liver. The average fat fraction within liver volume was reported as LFC.