Background/aim: Easy measurement of liver steatosis without pathological diagnosis may help improve donor surgery efficiency and increase the chances of organ donations. We analyzed the correlations between bioelectrical impedance (BI) in human livers, liver fat content, and pathological findings.
Materials and methods: Sixteen tumor-free liver specimens resected during elective oncological surgery were analyzed. All samples were stored in ice chilled saline before BI measurement. The BI measurement was performed using a device with the tetrapolar circuit method in which the current and voltage electrodes are independent. Liver cholesterol and triglyceride levels were investigated from the same specimen using the Soxhlet extraction method. Pathological findings were examined by counting the number of hepatocytes with fatty changes per high-power field.
Results: The median liver steatosis percentage was 0.4%. The liver steatosis percentage was significantly correlated with the intrahepatic triglyceride content (r=0.82, p<0.001). Linear regression of the measurements and predicted values yielded an r2 of 0.63 between the BI at 100 kHz and liver steatosis, indicating reasonable agreement (p<0.001).
Conclusion: BI analysis is a simple, non-invasive method that can be easily applied to evaluate liver steatosis.
Keywords: Liver steatosis; bioelectrical impedance; graft evaluation; liver transplantation.
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