Noninvasive Quantitative Detection Methods of Liver Fat Content in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) ranges from simple steatosis to NAFLD-related liver cirrhosis and is a main cause of chronic liver diseases. Patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and fibrosis are at a great risk of the progression to cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma, both of which are tightly associated with liver-related mortality. Liver biopsy is still the gold standard for the diagnosis of NAFLD, but some defects, such as serious complications, sampling error and variability in histologic evaluation among pathologists, remain problematic. Therefore, noninvasive, repeatable and accurate diagnostic methods are urgently needed. Ultrasonography is a well-established and lower-cost imaging technique for the diagnosis of hepatic steatosis, especially suitable for population census, but limited by its low sensitivity to diagnose mild steatosis and being highly operator-dependent. Computed tomography also lacks the sensitivity to detect mild steatosis and small changes in fat content, and presents a potential radiation hazard. Controlled attenuation parameter based on the FibroScan(®) technology is a promising tool for noninvasive semiquantitative assessment of liver fat content, but the accuracy rate depends on the operator’s expertise and is affected by age, width of the intercostal space, skin capsular distance and body mass index. Magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance spectroscopy are regarded as the most accurate quantitative methods for measuring liver fat content in clinical practice, especially for longitudinal follow up of NAFLD patients. In this review, we mainly introduce the current imaging methods that are in use for evaluation of liver fat content and we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each method.