Development of liver surface nodularity quantification program and its clinical application in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disease in the United States and its prevalence is reported to between 10% and 30%. NAFLD comprises a wide spectrum of liver damage, ranging from macrovesicular steatosis, inflammation, fibrosis, and cirrhosis. Liver biopsy has been regarded as the reference standard for diagnosing hepatic inflammation, fibrosis and cirrhosis in NAFLD. There is an unmet need for widely applicable non-invasive methods to diagnose advanced liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. Recently, liver surface nodularity (LSN) based on CT images is used to diagnose and stage a variety of liver disease in chronic liver disease, and is predictive of cirrhosis decompensation and death. The liver morphological changes in relation to fibrosis stage in NAFLD have not yet been clearly identified. Our study developed a MRI-suitable LSN quantification program and compared the fibrosis grades in NAFLD.