Hepatitis C virus infection is associated with elevated bone marrow adiposity in the proximal femur: A preliminary study

Motivation: Hepatitis C (HCV) has been linked to osteoporosis and elevated risk of fracture in retrospective studies. Goal(s): To perform the first investigation of bone marrow adiposity in a cohort of patients with chronic HCV infection. Approach: A total of 33 patients with HCV and 42 age-, sex-, and race-matched HCV-uninfected controls were recruited for MRI. Proximal femur bone marrow adiposity was assessed via chemical-shift-encoded MRI from multi-echo gradient-echo sequences. Results: The HCV group had elevated marrow adiposity in the proximal femur (80.4 ± 6.6% vs 74.9 ± 9.1%, P=0.0045) compared to controls, suggesting impairment of the trabecular network. Impact: HCV was associated with elevated bone marrow adiposity compared to uninfected controls. MRI quantification of hip fat fraction enables investigation into the pathogenesis of increased fracture risk for patients with Hepatitis C infection.