Quantitative ultrasound envelope statistics imaging as a screening approach for pediatric hepatic steatosis and liver fibrosis: using biomarker and transient elastography as reference standards.

Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) envelope statistics imaging is an emerging technique for the assessment of hepatic steatosis in adults. Blood tests are currently recommended as the screening tool for pediatric hepatic steatosis, a condition that can lead to liver fibrosis in children. This study examined the utility of QUS envelope statistics imaging in grading biomarker-diagnosed hepatic steatosis and detecting liver fibrosis in a pediatric population.

Detection of pediatric hepatic steatosis through ultrasound backscattering analysis.

Objectives: Hepatic steatosis has become a considerable concern in the pediatric population. The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using ultrasound Nakagami imaging to produce a parametric image for analyzing the echo amplitude distribution to assess pediatric hepatic steatosis.

Methods: A total of 68 pediatric participants were enrolled in healthy control (n = 26) and study groups (n = 42).