CT scan findings correlation with FibroScan® test results in the detection of hepatic steatosis.

Abstract

Hepatic steatosis of non-alcoholic origin has become an increasingly common cause of chronic liver pathology, sometimes even leading to liver transplantation, and also considered an independent risk factor for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma.  Some investigations promote the use of non-invasive methods for the study of patients with fatty liver as an option to reduce liver biopsies, among which are FibroScan® and tomography, where an attenuation ≤40 HU of the liver parenchyma in non-contrast scan has shown to have a good correlation with the pathological fat content in the liver. A retrospective, exploratory and analytical observational study was carried out, with the purpose of demonstrate the diagnostic usefulness of tomography in hepatic steatosis validated using the vibration controlled transient elastography technique, comparing the results of both methods. The average age of the patients was 60 years, most of them were male, and eight of them demonstrated tomographic findings of liver cirrhosis. A weak negative correlation was identified between the HU values ​​obtained in tomography and the CAP values ​​from the FibroScan®. 15 patients with grade S3 steatosis were recognized, of which only 7 demonstrated HU values ​​less than 40 on tomography. No correlation was determined between HU values ​​and the presence of liver fibrosis.