Ultrasound Assessment of Hepatic Steatosis by Using the Double Nakagami Distribution: A Feasibility Study

Diagnostics

卷:10

Tadashi Yamaguchi¹  Dar-In Tai²  Yung-Liang Wan³  Po-Hsiang Tsui³  Kazuki Tamura⁴  Feng Fang⁵  Qiang Li⁵  Jui Fang⁶ 

[1] Center for Frontier Medical Engineering, Chiba University, Chiba 263-8522, Japan;

[2] Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 33305, Taiwan;

[3] Department of Medical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 33302, Taiwan;

[4] Preeminent Medical Photonics Education & Research Center, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Shizuoka 431-3192, Japan;

[5] School of Microelectronics, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China;

[6] x-Dimension Center for Medical Research and Translation, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung 404332, Taiwan;

关键词: fatty liver;    hepatic steatosis;    ultrasound;    Nakagami distribution;   

DOI  :  10.3390/diagnostics10080557

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Ultrasound imaging is a first-line assessment tool for hepatic steatosis. Properties of tissue microstructures correlate with the statistical distribution of ultrasound backscattered signals, which can be described by the Nakagami distribution (a widely adopted approximation of backscattered statistics). The double Nakagami distribution (DND) model, which combines two Nakagami distributions, was recently proposed for using high-frequency ultrasound to analyze backscattered statistics corresponding to lipid droplets in the fat-infiltrated liver. This study evaluated the clinical feasibility of the DND model in ultrasound parametric imaging of hepatic steatosis by conducting clinical experiments using low-frequency ultrasound dedicated to general abdominal examinations. A total of 204 patients were recruited, and ultrasound image raw data were acquired using a 3.5 MHz array transducer for DND parametric imaging using the sliding window technique. The DND parameters were compared with hepatic steatosis grades identified histologically. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to evaluate the diagnostic performance. The results indicated that DND parametric imaging constructed using a sliding window with the side length of five times the pulse length of the transducer provided stable and reliable DND parameter estimations and visualized changes in the backscattered statistics caused by hepatic steatosis. The DND parameter increased with the hepatic steatosis grade. The areas under the ROC curve for identifying hepatic steatosis were 0.76 (≥ mild), 0.81 (≥ moderate), and 0.82 (≥ severe). When using low-frequency ultrasound, DND imaging allows the clinical detection of hepatic steatosis and reflects information associated with lipid droplets in the fat-infiltrated liver.

【 授权许可】

Unknown