Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29869170›Full record

ArticleEuropean radiology2018

Inter-sonographer reproducibility of quantitative ultrasound outcomes and shear wave speed measured in the right lobe of the liver in adults with known or suspected non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Aiguo Han, Yassin Labyed, Ethan Z Sy, Andrew S Boehringer, Michael P Andre, John W Erdman, Rohit Loomba, Claude B Sirlin, William D O'Brien

Open access · greenAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in European radiology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
31citing papers in PubMed
3.6field-weighted citation impact, top 7% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

31 citing papers in PubMed, 40 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Imaging Evaluation for Steatotic Liver Disease.Korean journal of radiology · 2026
    Review
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  7. Article
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  9. Influences of Variability in Attenuation Compensation on the Estimation of Backscatter Coefficient of Median Nerves in Vivo.Journal of ultrasound in medicine : official journal of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine · 2025
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  18. Observational
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Aiguo HanBioacoustics Research Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 306 North Wright Street, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
Yassin LabyedSiemens Healthineers USA, 22010 South East 51st Street, Issaquah, WA, 98029, USA.
Ethan Z SyLiver Imaging Group, Department of Radiology, University of California at San Diego, 9452 Medical Center Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA.
Andrew S BoehringerLiver Imaging Group, Department of Radiology, University of California at San Diego, 9452 Medical Center Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA.
Michael P AndreDepartment of Radiology, University of California at San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, San Diego, CA, 92093, USA.
John W ErdmanDepartment of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 905 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
Rohit LoombaNAFLD Research Center, Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, University of California at San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
Claude B SirlinLiver Imaging Group, Department of Radiology, University of California at San Diego, 9452 Medical Center Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA.
William D O'BrienBioacoustics Research Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 306 North Wright Street, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA. wdo@uiuc.edu.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · USUniversity of California, San Diego · USSiemens Healthcare (United States) · US

Funding

Ultrasound-induced tissue damage assessmentR37EB002641 · NIBIB · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN · PI O'BRIEN, WILLIAM D. · 2006 to 2015
$6.1M
QUS Technology for Diagnosis and Grading of Hepatic Steatosis in NAFLDR01DK106419 · NIDDK · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · PI LOOMBA, ROHIT, SIRLIN, CLAUDE B · 2015 to 2019
$3.4M
NIBIB NIH HHS R37 EB002641NIDDK NIH HHS R01 DK106419
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo assess inter-sonographer reproducibility of ultrasound attenuation coefficient (AC), backscatter coefficient (BSC) and shear wave speed (SWS) in adults with known/suspected non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

methodsThe institutional review board approved this HIPAA-compliant prospective study; informed consent was obtained. Participants with known/suspected NAFLD were recruited and underwent same-day liver examinations with a clinical scanner. Each participant was scanned by two of the six trained sonographers. Each sonographer performed multiple data acquisitions in the right liver lobe using a lateral intercostal approach. A data acquisition was a single operator button press that recorded a B-mode image, radio-frequency data, and the SWS value. AC and BSC were calculated from the radio-frequency data using the reference phantom method. SWS was calculated automatically using product software. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and within-subject coefficient of variation (wCV) were calculated for applicable metrics.

resultsSixty-one participants were recruited. Inter-sonographer ICC was 0.86 (95% confidence interval: 0.77-0.92) for AC and 0.87 (0.78-0.92) for log-transformed BSC (logBSC = 10log

conclusionsHepatic AC, BSC and SWS measures on a clinical scanner have good inter-sonographer reproducibility in adults with known or suspected NAFLD. Multiple acquisitions are required for SWS but not AC or BSC to achieve good inter-sonographer reproducibility. KEY POINTS: • AC, BSC and SWS measurements are reproducible in adults with NAFLD. • Inter-sonographer reproducibility of SWS measurement improves with more acquisitions being averaged. • Multiple acquisitions are required for SWS but not AC or BSC.

Indexed as

AdultAnalysis of VarianceElasticity Imaging TechniquesFemaleHumansImage Processing, Computer-AssistedLiverMaleMiddle AgedNon-alcoholic Fatty Liver DiseaseObserver VariationPhantoms, ImagingProspective StudiesReproducibility of ResultsSoftwareUltrasonographyElastographyLiver fibrosisNon-alcoholic fatty liver diseaseReproducibility of resultsUltrasonography

Identifiers

PMID29869170
PMCPMC7235946
OpenAlexW2807404373

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.