Korean Journal of Radiology

The Korean Society of Radiology (대한영상의학회)
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Quantitative Evaluation of Hepatic Steatosis Using Advanced Imaging Techniques: Focusing on New Quantitative Ultrasound Techniques

  • Junghoan Park (Department of Radiology, Seoul National University Hospital) ;
  • Jeong Min Lee (Department of Radiology, Seoul National University Hospital) ;
  • Gunwoo Lee (Ultrasound R&D 2 Group, Health & Medical Equipment Business, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.) ;
  • Sun Kyung Jeon (Department of Radiology, Seoul National University Hospital) ;
  • Ijin Joo (Department of Radiology, Seoul National University Hospital)
  • Received : 2021.02.03
  • Accepted : 2021.08.31
  • Published : 2022.01.01
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Abstract

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, characterized by excessive accumulation of fat in the liver, is the most common chronic liver disease worldwide. The current standard for the detection of hepatic steatosis is liver biopsy; however, it is limited by invasiveness and sampling errors. Accordingly, MR spectroscopy and proton density fat fraction obtained with MRI have been accepted as non-invasive modalities for quantifying hepatic steatosis. Recently, various quantitative ultrasonography techniques have been developed and validated for the quantification of hepatic steatosis. These techniques measure various acoustic parameters, including attenuation coefficient, backscatter coefficient and speckle statistics, speed of sound, and shear wave elastography metrics. In this article, we introduce several representative quantitative ultrasonography techniques and their diagnostic value for the detection of hepatic steatosis.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by Samsung Medison (Project No. 06-2020-2040).

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