Quick assessment with controlled attenuation parameter for hepatic steatosis in children based on MRI-PDFF as the gold standard

Abstract

Abstract Background Controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) is a recently introduced, non-invasive and quantitative method to evaluate hepatic steatosis demonstrated in adults, but limited in obesity and not well evaluated in children. The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic performance for assessing hepatic steatosis grades using CAP in children based on MR proton density fat fraction (PDFF). Methods Children evaluated for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) who were assessed for PDFF and CAP were enrolled retrospectively. Hepatic steatosis grades 0–3 were classified according to PDFF using cutoff values of 6, 17.5, and 23.3%. Subgroup analyses were performed in non-obese and obese groups using the 95th percentile body mass index (BMI) as a cutoff and BMI30 group when BMI > 30 kg/m2. Pearson’s correlations between variables were also analyzed. Results In a total of 86 children, there were 53 in the obese group including 17 of the BMI30 group. CAP demonstrated 98.7% sensitivity and 80% specificity for diagnosing grades 1–3 vs. grade 0 using a cutoff value of 241 dB/m (area under the curve = 0.941, p 30 kg/m2.

Keywords

• Fatty liver
• Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
• Children
• Controlled attenuation parameter
• Proton density fat fraction