Value of ultrasound acoustic structure quantification for assessing the severity of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B

Abstract

Abstract: Objective To assess the value of ultrasound acoustic structure quantification (ASQ) in staging liver fibrosis and identifying moderate-to-severe fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B. Methods A total of 139 patients with chronic hepatitis B and biopsy-confirmed liver fibrosis treated in our hospital from January 2021 to June 2024 were enrolled. According to the METAVIR stage, 61 patients with F0-F2 fibrosis were assigned to the mild group, and 78 patients with F3-F4 fibrosis were assigned to the moderate-to-severe group. ASQ parameters, including the mean of the red curve (RA), mode of the red curve (RM), mode of the blue curve (BM), standard deviation of the blue curve (BSD), and the red-to-blue area under the curve ratio (FD ratio), were compared between groups. Spearman rank correlation was used to analyze their associations with fibrosis stage. Logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis were performed with moderate-to-severe fibrosis as the dependent variable. Results Compared with the mild group, the moderate-to-severe group showed higher RA, RM, BM, and FD ratio values: 124.55±6.98 vs. 117.15±7.65, 123.68±4.98 vs. 111.26±5.54, 136.99±6.15 vs. 128.44±8.44, and 0.65±0.15 vs. 0.26±0.14, respectively. Spearman analysis showed that BM, RA, RM, and FD ratio were positively correlated with fibrosis stage. Logistic regression identified the FD ratio as an independent risk factor for moderate-to-severe fibrosis. ROC analysis showed that the FD ratio had an AUC of 0.967[95% CI: 0.939~0.995]; at a cutoff of 0.520, the sensitivity was 0.872 and the specificity was 0.984. Conclusion ASQ can quantitatively reflect fibrosis-related alterations in liver parenchymal echotexture in patients with chronic hepatitis B. The FD ratio showed the strongest association with pathological stage,was an independent predictor of moderate-to-severe fibrosis, and had high diagnostic efficacy.

Key words: Acoustic structure quantification, Chronic hepatitis B, Liver fibrosis, Diagnostic efficacy

Zhang Xuemian, Liu Wenchuan, Wu Yunhui. Value of ultrasound acoustic structure quantification for assessing the severity of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B[J]. Chinese Hepatolgy, 2026, 31(6): 857-862.

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