Medical Physics Seminar – Monday, November 21, 2011
Quantitative Biomarkers of Diffuse Liver Disease
Scott Reeder, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Radiology and Medical Physics, UW-School of Medicine & Public Health, Madison, WI USA
Diffuse liver disease, particularly non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), is increasingly prevalent, affecting an estimated 20-80 million Americans. NAFLD is widely recognized as a central feature of the metabolic syndrome, a clinical constellation of obesity, type II diabetes, dyslipidemia and other metabolic derangements. Unfortunately, biopsy, the clinical reference standard for detection and grading of NAFLD, is limited by cost and morbidity, and it suffers from poor sampling variability. As a result, there has been tremendous effort aimed at the development of quantitative biomarkers of the histological features of diffuse liver disease. In this talk, I will review the technical requirements and clinical utility of accurate, platform-independent biomarkers of liver fat, fibrosis, and iron overload using MRI. Further, I will discuss the use of radial 4D flow imaging for comprehensive MR angiography and flow quantification in patients with portal hypertension