Prospective Comparison of Attenuation Imaging and Controlled Attenuation Parameter for Liver Steatosis Diagnosis in Patients With Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Type 2 Diabetes

Background & Aims

Similarly to the controlled attenuation parameter (CAP), the ultrasound-based attenuation imaging (ATI) can quantify hepatic steatosis. We prospectively compared the performance of ATI and CAP for the diagnosis of hepatic steatosis in patients with type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease using histology and magnetic resonance imaging-proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF) as references.

Methods

Patients underwent ATI and CAP measurement, MRI, and biopsy on the same day. Steatosis was classified as S0, S1, S2, and S3 on histology (<5%, 5%–33%, 33%–66%, and >66%, respectively) while the thresholds of 6.4%, 17.4%, and 22.1%, respectively, were used for MRI-PDFF. The area under the curve (AUC) of ATI and CAP was compared using a DeLong test.

Results

Steatosis could be evaluated in 191 and 187 patients with MRI-PDFF and liver biopsy, respectively. For MRI-PDFF steatosis, the AUC of ATI and CAP were 0.86 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.81–0.91) vs 0.69 (95% CI, 0.62-0.75) for S0 vs S1–S3 (P = .02) and 0.71 (95% CI, 0.64–0.77) vs 0.69 (95% CI, 0.61-0.75) for S0–S1 vs S2–S3 (P = .60), respectively. For histological steatosis, the AUC of ATI and CAP were 0.92 (95% CI, 0.87–0.95) vs 0.95 (95% CI, 0.91-0.98) for S0 vs S1–S3 (P = .64) and 0.79 (95% CI, 0.72–0.84) vs 0.76 (95% CI, 0.69–0.82) for S0–S1 vs S2–S3 (P = .61), respectively.

Conclusion

ATI may be used as an alternative to CAP for the diagnosis and quantification of steatosis, in patients with type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.