Acoustic structure quantification ultrasound software proves imprecise in assessing liver fibrosis or cirrhosis in parenchymal liver diseases

Christiane Krämer; Natalie Jaspers; Dirk Nierhoff; Kathrin Kuhr; Andrea Bowe; Tobias Goeser; Guido Michels

doi:10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2014.07.020

Acoustic structure quantification ultrasound software proves imprecise in assessing liver fibrosis or cirrhosis in parenchymal liver diseases

Ultrasound Med Biol. 2014 Dec;40(12):2811-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2014.07.020. Epub 2014 Oct 11.

Authors

Christiane Krämer¹, Natalie Jaspers², Dirk Nierhoff², Kathrin Kuhr³, Andrea Bowe², Tobias Goeser², Guido Michels⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany; Department III of Internal Medicine, Heart Centre of the University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
³ Institute of Medical Statistics, Informatics and Epidemiology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
⁴ Department III of Internal Medicine, Heart Centre of the University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.

PMID: 25308947
DOI: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2014.07.020

Abstract

The present study was conducted to assess the diagnostic accuracy of Acoustic Structure Quantification (ASQ) ultrasound software in liver biopsy of patients with liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. Eighty patients (47 ± 14 y, 41 men) with chronic liver diseases underwent ultrasound examination of the liver and liver biopsy. In addition to the standard-care ultrasound examination, three valid gray-scale images were obtained for each patient. With the ASQ software, the average and peak values (Cm(2)) of each ultrasound gray-scale image were calculated and then compared with histologic fibrosis staging (F0-F4). No correlation was found between ASQ values and histologic fibrosis stage (p > 0.05). Areas under the curve for the diagnosis of no or mild fibrosis (F0 and F1), moderate/severe fibrosis (F2 and F3) and cirrhosis (F4) using average/peak Cm(2) values of small regions of interest were 0.46/0.43, 0.62/0.68 and 0.38/0.33. Determination of liver fibrosis with ASQ in its present form as an alternative approach to liver biopsy is too imprecise.

Keywords: Acoustic structure quantification; Liver disease; Liver fibrosis; Ultrasound.

MeSH terms

Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Algorithms*
Chronic Disease
Diagnosis, Differential
Female
Humans
Image Enhancement / methods*
Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / methods*
Liver Cirrhosis / diagnostic imaging*
Liver Cirrhosis / pathology
Male
Middle Aged
Reproducibility of Results
Sensitivity and Specificity
Software Validation
Software*
Ultrasonography / methods*
Young Adult