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A breath-hold triple-echo gradient-echo sequence with a low flip angle and correction for T2* decay is accurate for quantifying fat in segment VII of the liver. Given its excellent correlation and concordance with (1)H MR spectroscopy, this triple-echo sequence could replace (1)H MR spectroscopy in longitudinal studies.

Six months of treatment with liraglutide 1.2 mg/d significantly reduced LFC in patients with inadequately controlled type 2 diabetes and this effect was mainly driven by body weight reduction. Further studies are needed to confirm that this reduction in LFC may significantly reduce fibrosis progression.

PurposePIK3CA-related overgrowth spectrum (PROS) encompasses a range of debilitating conditions defined by asymmetric overgrowth caused by mosaic activating PIK3CA variants. PIK3CA encodes the p110α catalytic subunit of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K), a critical transducer of growth factor signaling. As mTOR mediates the growth-promoting actions of PI3K, we hypothesized that the mTOR inhibitor sirolimus would slow pathological overgrowth.MethodsThirty-nine participants with PROS and progressive overgrowth were enrolled into open-label studies across three centers, and results were pooled. For the primary outcome, tissue volumes at affected and unaffected sites were measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry during 26 weeks of untreated run-in and 26 weeks of sirolimus therapy.ResultsThirty participants completed the study. Sirolimus led to a change in mean percentage total tissue volume of –7.2% (SD 16.0, p = 0.04) at affected sites, but not at unaffected sites (+1.7%, SD 11.5, p = 0.48) (n = 23 evaluable). Twenty-eight of 39 (72%) participants had ≥1 adverse event related to sirolimus of which 37% were grade 3 or 4 in severity and 7/39 (18%) participants were withdrawn consequently.ConclusionThis study suggests that low-dose sirolimus can modestly reduce overgrowth, but cautions that the side-effect profile is significant, mandating individualized risk–benefit evaluations for sirolimus treatment in PROS.

Purpose To demonstrate that hepatic tumor volume and enhancement pattern measurements can be obtained in a time efficient and reproducible manner on a voxel-by-voxel basis to provide a true 3D volumetric assessment. Materials and Methods Retrospective evaluation of MRI data obtained from 20 patients recruited for a single-institution prospective study. All patients carried a diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and underwent drug-eluting beads transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (DEB-TACE) for the first time. All patients had undergone contrast-enhanced MRI before and after DEB-TACE although poor image quality excluded 3 resulting in a final count of 17 patients. vRECIST and qEASL were measured and segmentation and processing times were recorded. Results Thirty-four scans were analyzed. The time for semi-automatic segmentation was 65±33 seconds with a range of 40–200 seconds. vRECIST and qEASL of each tumor were then computed less than one minute for each. Conclusion Semi-automatic quantitative tumor enhancement (qEASL) and volume (vRECIST) assessment is feasible in a workflow efficient time frame. Clinical correlation is necessary, but vRECIST and qEASL could become part of the assessment of intra-arterial therapy for interventional radiologists.