Clinical trial NCT06552377: Ultrasound and Attenuation Imaging
Official title: A Cross-sectional Study Assessing the Agreement Between Sonographer Based Assessment of the Fatty Liver Using Conventional Ultrasound and Attenuation Imaging Scoring.
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver
Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis
Steatosis of Liver
Lead sponsor: Hywel Dda Health Board
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2024-08-14
Enrollment: 97
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Observational model: OTHER
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: The population will be of patients having liver scans or abdominal scans including the liver at Bronglais Hospital, Aberystwyth during the period the study.

Brief summary: Fatty liver disease affects almost a 3rd of the United Kingdom (UK) population. Currently, this is being investigated using a type of MRI scan that reports how fatty or not a person's liver is, with a liver fat score, but many patients cannot have this type of scan due to time, cost or because they have a condition which makes Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) an unsafe scan for them to have. An ultrasound scan is cheaper, faster and safer for a wider variety of patients. New developments in ultrasound technology mean that instead of a Sonographer, or ultrasound operator, deciding whether your liver is fatty or not based on what they see on the scan, the ultrasound machine gives a liver fat score. This study will look at the relationship between the Sonographers' view on how fatty the liver is, compared with the liver fat score given by the new development in ultrasound technology.

Detailed description: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) affects almost a 3rd of the population of the UK and current best practice is to evaluate this using Magnetic Resonance Imaging proton density fat fraction (MRI PDFF), however, this is inaccessible to many patients due to limited availability, cost and a large exclusion criteria. Ultrasound offers an affordable, faster and more inclusive method of liver evaluation but only subjective assessment of fatty liver disease until a recent development- Attenuation Imaging (AI). Attenuation imaging gives a numerical score for fatty liver disease. Attenuation imaging has previously only been compared to MRI PDFF, however, when many patients do not have MRI PDFF it is essential to compare it to common practice, conventional ultrasound. This study aims to assess the agreement between conventional ultrasound assessment of the liver and AI using a cross-sectional method. Convenience sampling will be used to select 95 participants who will have their AI score carried out alongside their routine ultrasound scan with the sonographer blinded to the AI results. The inter-rater agreement will be determined using Kappa statistics. The results will demonstrate the strength of relationship between the two methods. A strong agreement between the two may facilitate further investigation into the uses of AI, such as use as a teaching tool or in aiding decisions in cases that Sonographers find more difficult to assess such as those patients with a high BMI.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* 18 years old or over
* General Practitioner (GP) and Outpatients (OP) referral
* NAFLD, Unknown, Diabetes, Other metabolic disease

Exclusion Criteria:

* Younger than 18 years old
* Inpatients
* Known large liver masses
* Poor visualisation of the liver due to body type or anatomy.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Sonographer assessment of the liver
timeFrame: all measurements obtained within single 30 minute appointment
measure: Measurement of liver fat using attenuation imaging
timeFrame: all measurements obtained within single 30 minute appointment
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Age of patient
timeFrame: all measurements obtained within single 30 minute appointment
measure: Height
timeFrame: all measurements obtained within single 30 minute appointment
measure: Weight
timeFrame: all measurements obtained within single 30 minute appointment
measure: Diagnosis or Relevant history
timeFrame: all measurements obtained within single 30 minute appointment
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Aberystwyth
country: United Kingdom
facility: Bronglais Hospital
state: Ceredigion
Study officials:
References: