Evaluation of Concomitant Presence of Iron Overload and Hepatic Steatosis using Monte Carlo Simulations at 0.75 T

Motivation: Multi-spectral fat water models fail to produce reliable fat fraction(FF) estimations for severe iron overload conditions at 1.5T and 3T. Low-field MRIs(<1T) may increase the accuracy in HIC and FF estimations at high iron overload by slowing signal decay but might suffer from lower signal-to-noise ratio(SNR). Goal(s): Assess the accuracy and robustness of quantifying R2* and FF at 0.75T across various SNR conditions. Approach: Realistic virtual liver models with concomitant presence of iron overload and hepatic steatosis were used to simulate MRI signals at 0.75T and 1.5T using Monte Carlo simulations. Results: 0.75T showed improved FF and R2* estimation compared to 1.5T. Impact: Low-field MRI can increase the accuracy and precision in simultaneous quantification of R2* and FF in the presence of mild-to-severe iron overload. With low-field MRI systems being less expensive and potentially increasing MRI accessibility, they can facilitate the reliable diagnosis.