Development of a new imaging test for fat malabsorption

Motivation: Fat malabsorption occurs in several gastrointestinal diseases including celiac disease and cystic fibrosis. Fat malabsorption is diagnosed with stool collection: disliked by patients, and laboratories. Less invasive diagnostics could assess fat malabsorption and be carried out alongside other assessments, improving patient experience, management and burden. Goal(s): Can non-invasive MRI and MRS techniques quantify unabsorbed fat in the colon? Approach: Acute high-fat diet with lipase inhibitor model of fat malabsorption in healthy volunteers. MRI, and novel application of MRS, in the colon to detect colonic fat. Results: MRI with thresholding quantified malabsorbed colonic fat. MRS confirmed fat presence. Impact: If MRI and MRS could identify and measure fat malabsorption as an alternative diagnostic technique, patients would no longer need to take poorly tolerated diagnostic techniques, this would provide pan-colonic assessment and reduce patient burden.