For liver disease in children, ultrasound correlates well with MRI: Study

USA: A recent study in the journal Radiology has found a moderate to high correlation between ultrasound shear-wave speed (SWS) and MR elastography–derived stiffness in children, adolescents, and young adults with known or suspected liver disease. US SWS predicted an abnormal liver shear stiffness with high performance.

To identify changes of liver disease, quantitative US techniques can be used but there is a sparse data in relation to their diagnostic performance and relationship to MRI measures. Andrew T. Trout, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio. and colleagues aimed to define associations between quantitative US and MRI measures of the liver in children, adolescents, and young adults with liver disease in a prospective study. They also aimed to define the predictive ability of quantitative US measures to detect abnormal liver stiffening and steatosis defined with MRI.

In the study, study, consecutive patients aged 8–21 years and known to have or suspected of having liver disease and BMI less than 35 kg/m2 underwent 1.5-T MRI and quantitative liver US during the same visit at a pediatric academic medical center between April 2018 and December 2020. Acquired US parameters aming other included SWS and attenuation coefficient. 

Comparison was made between US parameters with liver MR elastography and liver MRI proton density fat fraction (PDFF). To assess associations and determine the performance of US relative to that of MRI, they performed Pearson correlation, multiple logistic regression, and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses.