Ultrasound in the Diagnosis of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, EMAN MEDHAT, YASMIN SAAD, AHMED RAMADAN, HANAN FOUAD, SHERIEF MUSA and HANY KHATAB
Abstract
Background and Aim: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common cause of chronic liver injury, the spectrum of which extends from simple steatosis to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) which may progress to liver fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Our aim is to investigate the role of abdominal ultrasound as noninvasive method for detecting fatty liver.
Subjects and Methods: 30 Egyptian NAFLD patients and 20 normal control individuals were recruited and subjected to full history, clinical examination, antlnopometric measures, laboratory investigations, abdominal ultrasound and liver biopsy. The diagnosis of NASH was determined by the NAFLD activity score (NAS) in liver histopathology.
Results: Out of the 30 patients, 20 (66.6%) were NASH & 10(33.3%) were simple steatosis. The grades of brightness by abdominal ultrasound were significant correlated with the grades of steatosis by liver biopsy. NAFLD patients were significantly higher as regards body mass index, waist circumference and liver enzymes.
Conclusion: Degree of liver brightness by ultrasound is correlated with the degree of steatosis by liver biopsy.