Ultrasonography.  2025 Mar;44(2):134-144. 10.14366/usg.24204.

Ultrasound-guided attenuation parameter for identifying metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: a prospective study

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Ultrasound, Zhongshan Hospital Fudan University, Shanghai, China
  • 2Center for Fatty Liver Disease, Department of Gastroenterology, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai Key Lab of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Shanghai, China
  • 3Department of Ultrasound, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China

Abstract

Purpose
This study assessed the performance of the ultrasound-guided attenuation parameter (UGAP) in diagnosing and grading hepatic steatosis in patients with metabolic dysfunctionassociated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). Magnetic resonance imaging proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF) served as the reference standard.
Methods
Patients with hepatic steatosis were enrolled in this prospective study and underwent UGAP measurements. MRI-PDFF values of ≥5%, ≥15%, and ≥25% were used as references for the diagnosis of steatosis grades ≥S1, ≥S2, and S3, respectively. Spearman correlation coefficients and area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) were calculated.
Results
Between July 2023 and June 2024, the study included 88 patients (median age, 40 years; interquartile range [IQR], 36 to 46 years), of whom 54.5% (48/88) were men and 45.5% (40/88) were women. Steatosis grades exhibited the following distribution: 22.7% (20/88) had S0, 50.0% (44/88) had S1, 21.6% (19/88) had S2, and 5.7% (5/88) had S3. The success rate for UGAP measurements was 100%. The median UGAP value was 0.74 dB/cm/MHz (IQR, 0.65 to 0.82 dB/ cm/MHz), and UGAP values were positively correlated with MRI-PDFF (r=0.77, P<0.001). The AUCs of UGAP for the diagnoses of ≥S1, ≥S2, and S3 steatosis were 0.91, 0.90, and 0.88, respectively. In the subgroup analysis, 98.4% (60/61) of patients had valid controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) values. UGAP measurements were positively correlated with CAP values (r=0.65, P<0.001).
Conclusion
Using MRI-PDFF as the reference standard, UGAP demonstrates good diagnostic performance in the detection and grading of hepatic steatosis in patients with MASLD.

Keyword

Ultrasound-guided attenuation parameter; Magnetic resonance imaging proton density fat fraction; Controlled attenuation parameter; Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease; Quantification; Noninvasive
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