Inter-sonographer reproducibility of ultrasonic attenuation backscatter coefficient measures in adults with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Abstract

The attenuation coefficient (AC) and backscatter coefficient (BSC) measures in the liver were found repeatable and inter-transducer reproducible in previous studies. This study assesses the inter-sonographer reproducibility of the two parameters. 56 participants (sex: 20M, 36F; age: 51.5±13.5, 24–74 yo; BMI: 32.2±5.2, 23.9–47.4 kg/m2; 43 had MRI-PDFF: 15.6±10.4%, 0.7–41.1%) with known or suspected NAFLD each underwent two same-day ultrasound liver examinations performed by two sonographers (out of six in total) using the Siemens S3000® ultrasound system. Each examination included five RF acquisitions in separate breathholds from the right liver lobe and one from a calibrated phantom using the same settings. The AC and BSC were estimated using the reference phantom technique from each liver RF acquisition. AC and log-transformed BSC (10logBSC) are frequency-averaged within 2.6-3.0 MHz. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to evaluate the inter-sonographer reproducibility. Without averaging mul...