Proton chemical shift imaging: an evaluation of its clinical potential using an in vivo fatty liver model.

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Abstract
The potential laboratory and clinical utility of proton chemical shift imaging (PCSI) was evaluated by studying fatty liver change in rats, which offered a simple animal model for tissue lipid buildup. There was excellent correlation between lipid group signal intensities from in vivo PCSI studies and liver triglyceride levels obtained from in vitro measurements (R = 0.97). The in vivo T1 relaxation time measurements in fatty liver tissue demonstrated 2 distinct populations of nonexchanging protons. The reason for the lack of sensitivity in conventional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging studies of fatty liver change is explained, and the implications of the findings for MR imaging studies of other tissues are discussed. PCSI promises improved diagnostic sensitivity and specificity in studying a wide range of human pathologic conditions.