Performance of Proton Density Fat Fraction, MRE-based Liver Stiffness, and T1 in Identifying NASH Patients at High Risk of Disease Progression

Abstract

Multiparametric MRI/MRE and liver biopsy were performed in 104 patients at risk for NASH. We correlated measurements of proton density fat fraction (PDFF), 3D vector MRE-assessed liver stiffness (LS), and T1 relaxation time across histological features of NASH. We found that PDFF showed superior diagnostic performance in identifying patients with NASH (AUC: 0.84 [0.76, 0.92]), while LS showed superior diagnostic performance in stratifying NASH patients at high risk (0.85 [0.75, 0.94]). The results showed that T1 measurement, either alone or in combination with other biomarkers, did not perform as well as PDFF and LS in diagnosing NASH or stratifying high-risk NASH.