2025/11/21 by Zellner, Michael, Schmidt, Magdalena Sophie, Huber, Florian +7
Medicine · #Liver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment #Ultrasound Imaging and Elastography #Liver Disease and Transplantation
paper · doi:10.5167/uzh-280659
Background: The rising prevalence of paediatric liver disease, including metabolic dysfunction- associated steatotic liver disease, highlights the need for reliable, non-invasive diagnostic tools. Advanced ultrasound techniques such as shear wave elastography (SWE), shear wave dispersion (SWD), and attenuation imaging (ATI) offer promising alternatives to biopsy or magnetic resonance imaging, but normative paediatric values remain limited. Objective: This study aimed to establish age-specific reference values for SWE, SWD, and ATI in healthy children and to assess potential influencing factors such as age, sex, body mass index (BMI), and fasting duration. Materials and methods: In this retrospective study, 264 children (135 female, median age 11.5 years) without known liver disease were selected from a cohort of 734. Each child underwent liver ultrasound using a standardized protocol with five ATI and ten SWE/SWD measurements. Only high-quality data were included. Statistical analyses examined correlations between imaging parameters and patient characteristics. Conclusion: This study provides reference values for SWE, SWD, and ATI in children. Age and sex influence SWD and ATI values, underscoring the importance of age-specific interpretation in paediatric liver ultrasound.