Mouse liver dispersion for the diagnosis of early-stage Fatty liver disease: a 70-sample study

Christopher T Barry; Zaegyoo Hah; Alexander Partin; Robert A Mooney; Kuang-Hsiang Chuang; Alicia Augustine; Anthony Almudevar; Wenqing Cao; Deborah J Rubens; Kevin J Parker

doi:10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2013.10.016

Mouse liver dispersion for the diagnosis of early-stage Fatty liver disease: a 70-sample study

Ultrasound Med Biol. 2014 Apr;40(4):704-13. doi: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2013.10.016. Epub 2014 Jan 10.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Surgery, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA.
² Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA.
³ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA.
⁴ Department of Public Health Services, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA.
⁵ Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA.
⁶ Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA; Department of Radiology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA.
⁷ Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA. Electronic address: kevin.parker@rochester.edu.

PMID: 24412179
DOI: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2013.10.016

Abstract

The accumulation of fat droplets within the liver is an important marker of liver disease. This study assesses gradations of steatosis in mouse livers using crawling waves, which are interfering patterns of shear waves introduced into the liver by external sources. The crawling waves are detected by Doppler ultrasound imaging techniques, and these are analyzed to estimate the shear wave speed as a function of frequency between 200 and 360 Hz. In a study of 70 mice with progressive increases in steatosis from 0% to >60%, increases in steatosis are found to increase the dispersion, or frequency dependence, of shear wave speed. This finding confirms an earlier, smaller study and points to the potential of a scoring system for steatosis based on shear wave dispersion.

Keywords: Crawling waves; Dispersion; Fatty liver disease; Medical ultrasound imaging; Shear wave elasticity imaging; Steatosis; Viscoelastic tissue models.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Computer Simulation
Early Diagnosis
Elastic Modulus
Elasticity Imaging Techniques / methods*
Fatty Liver / diagnostic imaging*
Fatty Liver / physiopathology*
Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / methods*
Mice
Mice, Inbred C57BL
Models, Biological*
Shear Strength
Stress, Mechanical
Viscosity