Enhancing Liver Steatosis Classification: H-Scan Analysis of Handheld Ultrasound Data

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

Handheld ultrasound (H-US) offers a widely accessible and cost-effective option for future medicine. Quantitative US methods, such as H-Scan, could broaden its impact by leveraging the enormous potential of radiofrequency (RF) ultrasound data. H-US derived steatosis and fibrosis assessments would reduce the need for expensive FibroScanR devices, especially supporting low-resource areas. By filtering for lower (GH2) and higher (GH8) frequencies, the method allows for differentiation of scatter sizes related to varying degrees of steatosis, which is crucial for early detection of metabolicassociated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). Considering a substantial and various patient cohort of 468 patients, reducing potential selection bias inherent in smaller study cohorts, this study aims to investigate whether H-Scan analysis of RF-data captured with inexpensive H-US yields comparable results to those seen in previous studies. A strong correlation (r=0.852, p<0.0001) was found between the H-Scan and the controlled attenuation parameter from FibroScanR, indicating the effectiveness of H-Scan in identifying steatosis. However, the correlation strongly depends on an accurate estimate of the tissue’s attenuation coefficient α No significant correlation was observed between H-Scan and the degree of liver fibrosis, suggesting that the current H-Scan alone might not be suitable for this application. Further research is needed to test and refine the methodology, especially regarding individual attenuation correction.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)62-66
Number of pages5
JournalIEEE Open Journal of Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control
Volume5
Publication statusPublished - 5 May 2025
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0002-3295-0727/work/184002732
ORCID /0000-0002-0676-6926/work/184006178
ORCID /0000-0001-5921-9478/work/184006455
ORCID /0009-0004-9063-5161/work/184006468
unpaywall 10.1109/ojuffc.2025.3566928
Mendeley 71b3ef9e-1070-3503-8d58-5ba29ce085b9
ORCID /0000-0002-2421-6127/work/198593506
ORCID /0009-0004-0685-2463/work/198594927

Keywords

Keywords

  • Liver, Correlation, Attenuation, Fats, Ultrasonic imaging, Liver diseases, Standards, Correlation coefficient, Radio frequency, Polynomials