Abstract
Noninvasive approaches for assessment of liver histology include routine laboratory tests and radiological evaluation. The purpose of our study was to determine the utility of a simplified scoring system based on routinely evaluated ultrasound features for the evaluation of chronic liver disease and correlate it with the histological findings. For this cross-sectional analytical study the data was collected prospectively by nonprobability purposive sampling technique. The ultrasound variables/parameters and their assigned scoring system that was a modified version adopted from published literature were evaluated. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of the liver morphological score and combined score of liver morphology and sizes was determined using stage and grade as reference standard. Our results show a high sensitivity and PPV of liver morphological sonographic evaluation for the staging and grading of CLD respectively thus supporting it as a screening diagnostic strategy. Of the three liver morphology variables, specificity of liver surface evaluation was highest for the stage of fibrosis and grade of inflammation. The simplified ultrasound scoring system evaluated in our study is clinically relevant and reproducible for differentiating patients with CLD with mild or no fibrosis from moderate to severe fibrosis.
Highlights
The common causes of chronic liver disease are viral hepatitis, alcohol abuse, and metabolic disorders
Ultrasound, are inexpensive, noninvasive, readily available, and acceptable to the patient. It is routinely utilized in evaluation of spectrum of chronic liver disease as it provides useful information on the morphological alterations of the liver and organs affected as a result of portal hypertension; in addition color Doppler flow imaging provides information regarding the liver hemodynamics
A number of ultrasound variables based on liver morphology, hemodynamics, and different techniques of ultrasound like simultaneous use of high and low frequency transducers have been evaluated to predict the liver fibrosis stage with variable accuracy
Summary
The common causes of chronic liver disease are viral hepatitis, alcohol abuse, and metabolic disorders. These result in hepatocytes damage, the consequence of which may be liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and/or hepatocellular carcinoma [1]. Ultrasound, are inexpensive, noninvasive, readily available, and acceptable to the patient. It is routinely utilized in evaluation of spectrum of chronic liver disease as it provides useful information on the morphological alterations of the liver and organs affected as a result of portal hypertension; in addition color Doppler flow imaging provides information regarding the liver hemodynamics. The purpose of our study was to determine the utility of a simplified scoring system based on routinely evaluated ultrasound features for the evaluation of chronic liver disease and correlate it with the histological findings
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
