A comparative study of hepatic steatosis using two different qualitative ultrasound techniques measured based on magnetic resonance imaging-derived proton density fat fraction

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of attenuation measurement (ATT; dual-frequency method) and improved algorithm of ATT (iATT; reference method) for the assessment of hepatic steatosis using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-derived proton density fat fraction (PDFF) as the reference standard. Methods: We prospectively analyzed 427 patients with chronic liver disease who underwent ATT, iATT, or MRI-derived PDFF. Correlation coefficients were analyzed, and diagnostic values were evaluated by area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). The steatosis grade was categorized as S0 (<5.2%), S1 (≥5.2%, <11.3%), S2 (≥11.3%, <17.1%), and S3 (≥17.1%) according to MRI-derived PDFF values. Results: The median ATT and iATT values were 0.61 dB/cm/MHz (interquartile range 0.55–0.67 dB/cm/MHz) and 0.66 dB/cm/MHz (interquartile range 0.57–0.77 dB/cm/MHz). ATT and iATT values increased significantly as the steatosis grade increased in the order S0, S1, S2, and S3 (p < 0.001). The correlation coefficients between ATT or iATT values and MRI-derived PDFF values were 0.533 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.477–0.610) and 0.803 (95% CI 0.766–0.834), with a significant difference between them (p < 0.001). For the detection of hepatic steatosis of ≥S1, ≥S2, and ≥S3, iATT yielded AUROCs of 0.926 (95% CI 0.901–0.951), 0.913 (95% CI 0.885–0.941), and 0.902 (95% CI 0.869–0.935), with significantly higher AUROC values than for ATT (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p = 0.001). Conclusion: iATT showed excellent diagnostic performance for hepatic steatosis, and was strongly correlated with MRI-derived PDFF, with AUROCs of ≥0.900.