Normal Liver Stiffness by MR Elastography

Not Applicable

Completed

Brief Summary: Healthy children will be recruited to under Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)along with MR elastography to determine normal liver stiffness values.

Detailed Description: MR elastography (MRE) is playing a growing role in the non-invasive diagnosis and monitoring of liver disease in the pediatric population. There is, however, little data specific to the use of this technique in children with existing data and techniques largely extrapolated from adult studies. Existing studies suggest that liver stiffness values may be different between children and adults \[Etchell, Xanthakos\]. As such there is an unmet need for uniquely pediatric data in both healthy and diseased cohorts. To address the need for such data, the investigators plan a multi-site, prospective study of healthy pediatric (\<18 years of age) volunteers to determine normal liver stiffness measured by MR elastography across the range of MRI equipment.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

Exclusion Criteria

NPO less than 4 hours
Body mass index <10th or > 85th percentile for age
Documented history of liver disease
Pregnancy
Inability to lie still for duration of the MRI
Inability to breath hold for the duration of the 15-20 second MR elastography sequence
Standard contraindication to MRI (implanted hardware, etc.)
Requirement of sedation or general anesthesia for MRI
Abnormality of any measured liver function test
Liver fat fraction >5% by MRI PDFF

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Normals	MRI	Will receive an MRI and a blood draw
Normals	Blood draw	Will receive an MRI and a blood draw

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Liver Stiffness	During investigation	Liver stiffness is a measure of a mechanical property of tissue (stiffness). This can be measured non-invasively by MR elastography, a technique that involves applying an external vibration to the abdomen and measuring the progression of shear waves through the underlying liver using MRI. Purpose of the study was to determine normal (healthy) liver stiffness as measured by MRE

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Cross-field Strength	During investigation	To assess cross-field strength (1.5T vs. 3T) variability in normal MRI liver stiffness values
Sex-related Differences	During investigation	To assess for sex-related (male vs. female) differences in normal MRI liver stiffness values
Cross-platform Variability	During Investigation	To assess for cross-platform (different MRI vendors) variability in normal MRI liver stiffness values