11/09/2026
What can a single scan tell us about liver health in cancer surveillance?
Quantitative MRI (qMRI) has been studied extensively in Western cohorts, but until now, there has been limited evidence of its use in surveillance of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which is more prevalent in Asian populations.
Results from the imaging arm of the ELEGANCE study were recently published in BMC Gastroenterology and reported on 769 participants with chronic liver disease who underwent HCC surveillance in Singapore.
What did the scans show?
In patients with Hepatitis B, Perspectum's qMRI identified concurrent steatotic liver disease in more than 40% of participants
In patients with metabolic dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) , Perspectum's qMRI suggested 31% also had metabolic dysfunction associated steatohepatitis (MASH) – a more active form of the disease with liver inflammation and injury
Across patients with different underlying causes of liver disease, cirrhosis was associated with elevated iron-corrected T1, reduced liver fat, spleen enlargement and caudate hypertrophy.
When these imaging features were combined, they were able to identify the patients with cirrhosis in the MASLD cohort (AUC 0.88)
Importantly, an exploratory analysis found that the same imaging could distinguish participants who would go on to receive a HCC diagnosis from those who did not.
Why does this matter?
A single non-contrast MRI scan could provide a much richer picture of your liver health.
It can characterise disease activity, fat, iron and organ structure. These measurements can help clinicians better understand disease burden, and could potentially identify which people need closer monitoring for liver cancer.
Read the paper: https://bmcgastroenterol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12876-026-05213-6
