Validation of Accuracy of Non-Invasive Imaging Methods (Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Fat Fraction Calculation and Computed Tomography (CT) Liver Attenuation Index) for Hepatic Graft Fat Quantification in Living Liver Transplant Donors

BACKGROUND: Diagnosis of significant hepatic graft steatosis remains vital for success of any transplant program as it has an impact on donor morbidity and recipient survival. Even histopathological quantification faces limitations. The present study compared the diagnostic accuracy of CT-LAI and MRI fat fraction imaging with histopathological analysis for donor graft parenchymal fat quantification. MATERIAL/METHODS: CT-LAI and MR-FF values and histopathological fat quantification results of 273 patients were identified from electronic records of the author’s institutes from September 2015 to April 2020. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 21.0. RESULTS: Most participants were young with nearly equal sex distribution and significant number of overweight and obese patients. Moderate agreement and significant positive correlation were found between MR fat fraction (%) and biopsy-macrosteatosis (%). Diagnostic accuracy and negative predictive value of MRI for fat fraction calculation was high (95.24% and 98.07% for fat fraction of 10% threshold, respectively), and it further improved for fat fraction threshold of 15%. CONCLUSIONS: MRI-based fat quantification calculation displayed near-perfect negative predictive values and very high diagnostic accuracy, suggesting that it can obviate the need for biopsy in patients with graft fat percentage <10% on MRI.