Dr. Scott Reeder, professor in the Department of Radiology, is the author of the top-cited paper published in the Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (JMRI) between the years 2011 and 2014. His paper, “Quantitative Assessment of Liver Fat with Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy,” deals with non-invasive techniques for accurately and objectively quantifying liver fat, particularly relating to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. The paper first appeared in the October 2011 edition of JMRI and to date has been cited 334 times. Fatty liver disease affects an estimated 80 million people in the US and the current gold standard of detection is a liver biopsy which carries certain risks. Reeder’s paper goes over non-invasive techniques of measuring liver fat using ultrasound and CT and important limitations of those methods before detailing the possibilities MR imaging presents in detecting liver fat content. This paper has played an important role quantitatively analyzing imaging methods and techniques which have the potential to fill a considerable clinical need.
The full paper can be accessed at NCBI.