Computerised analysis of liver texture with correlation to needle biopsy

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Hepatology
• Biophysics

Background:

• Non-invasive diagnosis of diffuse fatty liver infiltration is crucial.
• Quantitative indices of ultrasonic (US) backscatter can aid in tissue characterization.
• Histological correlation is the gold standard but is invasive.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop quantitative indices of US backscatter for non-invasive diagnosis of fatty liver.
• To correlate these indices with histological findings.
• To assess the diagnostic performance of US backscatter for severe steatosis.

Main Methods:

• US images were acquired from patients undergoing liver needle biopsy (LNB) and healthy controls.
• Histopathology was scored for steatosis, inflammation, and fibrosis.
• Four textural indices were calculated from US images at the biopsy site.
• Sensitivity and specificity were evaluated for discriminating between fatty and healthy livers.

Main Results:

• Fatty and healthy livers formed distinct clusters in US backscatter analysis.
• High sensitivity (90-100%) was achieved for all indices.
• The co-occurrence local homogeneity index showed the highest specificity (88.5%).

Conclusions:

• Accurate "ultrasonic biopsy" is feasible for severe fatty liver.
• The developed indices can be integrated into US computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems.
• This approach is particularly useful for diagnosing severe hepatic steatosis.