Comparing ultrasound-derived fat fraction and MRI-PDFF for quantifying hepatic steatosis: a real-world prospective study

To compare the agreement between ultrasound-derived fat fraction (UDFF) with magnetic resonance proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF) for quantification of hepatic steatosis and verify its reliability and diagnostic performance by comparing with MRI-PDFF as the reference standard.

This prospective study included a primary analysis of 191 patients who underwent MRI-PDFF and UDFF from February 2023 to February 2024. MRI-PDFF were derived from three liver segment measurements with calculation of an overall median PDFF. UDFF was performed by two different sonographers for each of the six measurements, and the median was taken. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Bland–Altman analysis were used to assess agreement. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the diagnostic performance of UDFF in detecting different degrees of hepatic steatosis.

A total of 176 participants were enrolled in the final cohort of this study (median age, 36.0 years; 82 men, 94 women). The median MRI-PDFF value was 11.3% (interquartile range (IQR) 7.5–18.9); 84.7% patients had a median MRI-PDFF value ≥ 6.4%. The median UDFF measured by different sonographers were 9.5% (IQR: 5.0–18.0) and 9.0% (IQR: 5.0–18.0), respectively. The interobserver agreement of UDFF measurement was excellent agreement (ICC = 0.951 [95% CI: 0.934–0.964], p < 0.001). UDFF was positively strongly correlated with MRI-PDFF with ICC of 0.899 (95% CI: 0.852–0.930). The Bland–Altman analysis showed high agreement between UDFF and MRI-PDFF measurements, with a mean bias of 1.7% (95% LOA, −8.7 to 12.2%). The optimal UDFF cutoff values were 5.5%, 15.5% and 17.5% for detecting MRI-PDFF at historic thresholds of 6.4%, 17.4%, and 22.1%, with AUC of 0.851, 0.952, and 0.948, respectively. The sensitivity was 79.2%, 87.5%, 88.9%, and specificity was 81.5%, 90.6%, 90.0%, respectively.

UDFF is a reliable and accurate method for quantification and classification of hepatic steatosis, with strong agreement to MRI-PDFF. The UDFF cutoff values of 5.5%, 15.5%, and 17.5% provide high sensitivity and specificity for the detection of mild, moderate, and severe hepatic steatosis, respectively.

Question Is ultrasound-derived fat fraction (UDFF) reliable for the quantitative detection of hepatic steatosis compared to MRI proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF)?

Findings UDFF cutoff values of 5.5%, 15.5%, and 17.5% provided high sensitivity and specificity for the detection of mild, moderate, and severe hepatic steatosis, respectively.

Clinical relevance UDFF is a reliable and accurate method for quantification and classification of hepatic steatosis, with strong agreement to MRI-PDFF and high reproducibility of liver fat content by different sonographers.