In the United States, chronic liver disease and its end state of cirrhosis represent the fifth leading cause of death for people aged 45 to 54 years and the 12th leading cause of death overall, independent of associated deaths from liver cancer and complications of liver disease 1. Quantitative B-mode ultrasound imaging can be implemented in clinical settings as an accurate non-invasive tool for fibrosis assessment. Sonographic parameters combined using multiparametric logistic regression were able to differentiate between clinically significant and insignificant fibrosis. Increasing imaging parameters correlated with increasing METAVIR grades, and anisotropy showed the strongest correlation (ПЃвЂ‰=вЂ‰0.58). Histologic analysis showed METAVIR fibrosis grades of F2-F4 in DEN rats and F0-F1 in controls. The three other features studied increased similarly over time in the DEN group. DEN rats showed an increase in echointensity from 37.1вЂ‰В±вЂ‰SD 7.8 to 53.5вЂ‰В±вЂ‰5.7 (10 w) to 57.5вЂ‰В±вЂ‰6.1 (13 w), while the control group remained unchanged at an average of 34.5вЂ‰В±вЂ‰4.5. Computer extracted quantitative parameters representing brightness (echointensity, hepatorenal index) and variance (heterogeneity, anisotropy) of the liver were studied. B-mode ultrasound scans sampling throughout the liver were acquired at baseline, 10, and 13 weeks.

Twenty-two rats were administered diethylnitrosamine (DEN) orally for 12 weeks to induce hepatic fibrosis.

In the current study we investigate using quantitative analysis of computer-extracted features of B-mode ultrasound as a non-invasive tool to characterize hepatic fibrosis. Currently liver biopsy is the gold standard for fibrosis assessment however, biopsy requires an invasive procedure and is prone to sampling error and reader variability. Early diagnosis and staging of hepatic fibrosis represent a major challenge.

Hepatic fibrosis and cirrhosis are a growing global health problem with increasing mortality rates.

Liver sonogram