(WLS Study) Technical Evaluation of MR Biomarkers of Obesity-Associated NAFLD

The PI of this project was:

This project was funded by: NIH

The term of this project was: December 2020 to July 2022

The number of subjects scanned during this project was: 50

This study will use Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Ultrasound (US) in order to determine the diagnostic performance of non-invasive biomarkers for detecting and monitoring liver fibrosis (NASH). The study team will plan to recruit and image 50 subjects using both MRI and US. This study aims to characterize the precision profile of conventional 2D-MRE and advanced multiparametric 3D-MRE in severely obese adults by determining a) same-day repeatability, b) field-strength reproducibility, c) reader reproducibility, and d) between-day reproducibility. In addition, the study team hopes to determine the accuracy of conventional 2D- and advanced 3D-MRE in severely obese adults using paired liver biopsies as the reference, to a) diagnose fibrosis and NASH cross-sectionally and b) monitor change in fibrosis and resolution of NASH longitudinally.