Illustration of the method used to measure regions of interest on an MR image.

<p>With use of computer software (developed in-house by the authors), two independent observers freely and easily selected a region of interest by clicking a mesh unit on the right hepatic lobe of an image while avoiding the large vessels, focal hepatic lesions, or artifacts. Seven regions of interest were chosen for liver parenchyma (1–5, total liver ROI area sampled, 500 mm²) and paraspinous muscles (6 and 7, total muscle ROI area sampled, 200 mm²) in the same slice section of each sequence.