Quantification of liver fat deposition in obese and diabetic patients: A pilot study on the correlation with myocardium and periapical fat content

Backgroud and aim

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a worldwide health problem, which associated with systemic health problems and causes a higher risk of all-cause mortality. The leading causes of death in NAFLD patients are cardiac complications followed by NAFLD-related liver complications. This study aimed to quantitatively measure the contents of liver and cardiac fat with varying degrees of NAFLD in an obese group and a type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) group to explore differences and correlations.

Materials and methods

This study included 170 patients who underwent echo asymmetry and least square estimation-iron quantification sequencing at 3.0 T magnetic resonance imaging. Fat fraction values were quantitatively measured in regions of interest of the liver, myocardium, and periapical adipose tissue.

Results

In both the obese and T2DM groups, cardiac fat content was correlated with liver fat content using linear regression (P < 0.01). For both the obese and T2DM groups, myocardial fat was higher in the T2DM group than that in the obese group (ventricular septum, 3.33% ± 1.40% vs. 2.51% ± 0.88%; the left ventricle, 3.38% ± 1.43% vs. 2.26% ± 0.87%). For the T2DM group, the different myocardial fat contents and myocardial enzymes were positively correlated with fatty liver severity by multiple comparisons of different degrees of NAFLD (P < 0.05). Periapical fat was statistically significant only between mild fatty and normal liver (obese group, P < 0.01; T2DM group, P = 0.01).

Conclusion

T2DM patients with fatty liver had higher myocardial fat content than obese patients with fatty liver, and both had a linear relationship. Periapical fat is an index for liver fat deposition in patients. The myocardial fat contents in T2DM patients with an increase in the liver fat content, which would influence cardiac function, should be given more attention in clinic.