MedPath

Usefulness of Ultrasound-derived Fat Fraction for Quantification of Hepatic Steatosis in Patients Suspected of MASLD

Active, not recruiting
Conditions
MASLD - Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease
Registration Number
NCT06662851
Lead Sponsor
So Yeon Kim
Brief Summary

This study aims to evaluate the diagnostic utility of ultrasound-derived fat fraction (UDFF) in assessing hepatic steatosis in patients with suspected metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). Using a prospective, cross-sectional design, the study will compare UDFF results with established diagnostic methods, including liver biopsy, MRI proton density fat fraction (PDFF), and controlled attenuation parameters (CAP) measurements. The ultimate goal is to determine if UDFF can serve as a non-invasive alternative to liver biopsy for diagnosing and staging hepatic steatosis, potentially reducing the need for invasive procedures in MASLD management.

Detailed Description

This prospective observational study, conducted at a single tertiary institution, will investigate the efficacy of ultrasound-derived fat fraction (UDFF) and point shear wave elastography (p-SWE) as non-invasive methods for quantifying liver fat content and fibrosis in patients scheduled for liver biopsy or surgery. The study will enroll 150 participants, suspected of MASLD and who are candidates for liver biopsy or resection.

The study will utilize Siemens ultrasound equipment to measure the UDFF using attenuation coefficient (AC) and backscatter coefficient (BSC) values for liver fat quantification. Additionally, TE parameters, such as controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) and liver stiffness measurement (LSM), will be recorded for comparison. The primary outcomes will assess UDFF's diagnostic accuracy against liver biopsy and MRI-PDFF. Secondary outcomes will include assessment of intra- and inter-observer variability, and correlations with patients' clinical data, such as BMI, liver fibrosis stages and liver function tests.

Expected benefits include validating UDFF as a reliable, non-invasive alternative for liver fat assessment, potentially reducing the need for invasive biopsies in managing liver disease.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
150
Inclusion Criteria
  • Patients older than 18 and younger than 80 years
  • Patients suspected of MASLD
  • Patients who are planned to undergo either liver biopsy or surgery
  • Patients willing to provide written informed consent.
Exclusion Criteria
  • Patients with a large tumor in Rt. hemiliver causing difficulty in performing UDFF measurement
  • Patients with previous liver surgery or transplantation
  • Patients with insufficient pathologic specimen for analysis of steatosis and fibrosis grade.
  • Any other condition which, in the opinion of the investigator, would make the patient unsuitable for enrollment or could interfere with completing the study.

Study & Design

Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Study Design
Not specified
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Correlation and agreement between UDFF and PDFFDuring procedure

Spearman rank correlation coefficient Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) with a 2-way random effects model for absolute agreement Bland-Altman plots

Diagnostic performance of UDFF for detecting and grading steatosis based on PDFF and histologic referenceDuring procedure

AUROC analysis

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Intra-observer and inter-observer agreementDuring procedure

Intraclass correlation coefficient

UDFF performance in different fibrosis stagesDuring procedure

Subgroup analysis according to different fibrosis stages

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Asan Medical Center

🇰🇷

Seoul, Songpa-gu, Korea, Republic of

© Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved by MedPath