Multiparametric ultrasound imaging for early‐stage steatosis: Comparison with magnetic resonance imaging‐based proton density fat fraction

作者：Jihye Baek, Lokesh Basavarajappa, Ryan Margolis, Leroy Arthur, Junjie Li, Kenneth Hoyt, Kevin J. Parker · 发表于：Medical Physics · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.1002/mp.16648 · 被引用次数：16 · 研究领域：Liver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment、Advanced MRI Techniques and Applications、Organ Transplantation Techniques and Outcomes

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of liver diseases, especially steatosis, requires a more convenient and noninvasive tool for liver diagnosis, which can be a surrogate for the gold standard biopsy. Magnetic resonance (MR) measurement offers potential, however ultrasound (US) has better accessibility than MR. PURPOSE: This study aims to suggest a multiparametric US approach which demonstrates better quantification and imaging performance than MR imaging-based proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF) for hepatic steatosis assessment. METHODS: We investigated early-stage steatosis to evaluate our approach. An in vivo (within the living) animal study was performed. Fat inclusions were accumulated in the animal livers by feeding a methionine and choline deficient (MCD) diet for 2 weeks. The animals (n = 19) underwent US and MR imaging, and then their livers were excised for histological staining. From the US, MR, and histology images, fat accumulation levels were measured and compared: multiple US parameters; MRI-PDFF; histology fat percentages. Seven individual US parameters were extracted using B-mode measurement, Burr distribution estimation, attenuation estimation, H-scan analysis, and shear wave elastography. Feature selection was performed, and the selected US features were combined, providing quantification of fat accumulation. The combined parameter was used for visualizing the localized probability of fat accumulation level in the liver; This procedure is known as disease-specifi...