Author(s)

Qian Zhang, Yonggui Zhang, Ping Zhao, Jian Jiao, Jiangbin Wang, Wenqian Qi

Corresponding Author

Qian Zhang

Abstract

To investigate the utility of 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) as a noninvasive test for steatosis in patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), ninety patients with chronic hepatitis C and pathology data underwent 3.0T 1H MRS, and the results of MRS and pathological analysis were compared. Results show that this group of patients included 26 people with mild fatty liver (28.89%), 16 people with moderate fatty liver (17.78%), 18 people with severe fatty liver (20.0%), and 30 people without fatty liver (33.33%). The water peak was near 4.7 parts per million (ppm), and the lipid peak was near 1.3 ppm. Analysis of variance revealed that differences in the lipid peak, the area under the lipid peak, ratio of the lipid peak to the water peak, and ratio of the area under the lipid peak to the area under the water peak were statistically significant among the groups. Area under the ROC curve (AUC) of area ratio in lipid and water and ratio in lipid and water, in no fatty liver group to mild fatty liver, mild fatty liver group to moderate fatty liver, and moderate fatty liver disease to severe fatty liver, were 0.705, 0.900, 0.975. Therefore, 1H MRS is a noninvasive technique that can be used to provide information on the effect of liver steatosis on hepatic metabolic processes. This study indicates that the 1H MRS can be used as an indicator of steatosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C.

Keywords

1H, MRS, Hepatitis C, Sntiviral therapy.