Fatty liver disease: Ultrasound perspectives on diagnosis, surveillance, and management

Fatty liver disease (steatosis) affects >1 billion people worldwide and is now the leading cause of new cases of chronic liver disease. With superimposed steatohepatitis and the associated risk of cirrhosis and HCC, accurate evaluation of liver fat content is increasingly important. 

Tracking longitudinal changes over time may indicate response to therapy or disease worsening. Various imaging tools are now available for diagnosis and quantification of liver fat content. In ultrasound, these tools include the measurement of liver attenuation, backscatter, speed-of-sound, or a combination to estimate liver fat. 

This session will provide a brief review of the epidemiology and societal impact of steatosis, how ultrasound can be leveraged to impact patient management, and how current efforts by various organizations are leading the charge to help educate the community, and validate emerging quantitative tools. Several clinical cases will be reviewed with an emphasis on how a combination of ultrasound techniques, including shear wave elastography for liver stiffness and fibrosis estimation, can help identify the most at-risk patients