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.
Scott Reeder MD, PhD is the Section Chief of MRI and Cardiovascular Imaging, and Director of the UW clinical MRI fellowship. He joined UW-Madison in 2005 from Stanford University where he completed his radiology residency, and a fellowship in abdominal and cardiovascular imaging. Previously, he completed medical school at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, where he also received his Master and PhD in Biomedical Engineering. He is originally from Canada where he received his BScE in Engineering Physics at Queen‘s University in Kingston, Ontario. In addition to his clinical duties, Dr. Reeder is also the Director of the UW Liver Imaging Research Program, an active NIH-funded group that performs research in technical development and translation of new imaging methods to assess liver disease.
Moderation: Professor Dr. Jens P. Kühn