ArticleQuantitative imaging in medicine and surgery2026
Trimester-specific reference values of ultrasound-derived fat fraction and automated point shear-wave elastography for liver assessment in healthy singleton pregnancies.
Article in Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Accurate and spatially stable quantification of hepatic steatosis using ultrasound-derived fat fraction in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD): a prospective magnetic resonance imaging-proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF) study.Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery · 2026Article
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Abstract
Background: Liver health is critical in pregnancy due to this organ adapting to meet gestational metabolic demands. Although overall function typically remains normal, hormonal and metabolic shifts can alter hepatic structure and complicate assessment. Conventional liver tests and imaging (e.g., ultrasonography and biochemical markers) have limited ability to distinguish physiological changes from pathologies such as intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy, steatosis, or fibrosis. Ultrasound-derived fat fraction (UDFF) and automated point shear-wave elastography (Auto-pSWE) provide noninvasive, quantitative measures of hepatic fat and stiffness. These techniques are well established in nonpregnant populations, but their applicability for pregnancy-related liver changes remains underexplored. This descriptive pilot study aimed to establish trimester-specific reference values for UDFF and Auto-pSWE in healthy singleton pregnancies and to determine their correlations with clinical and biochemical parameters, thereby providing novel quantitative benchmarks for hepatic assessment during gestation. Methods: Thirty normotensive women with singleton pregnancies underwent liver ultrasonography and biochemical evaluations during the first (11-13⁶⁄₇ weeks), second (20-24 weeks), and third (32-36 weeks) trimesters. Measurements included UDFF, liver stiffness (Young modulus in kilopascals) and shear-wave velocity (SWV; in meters per second), maternal anthropometric and serum biomarkers [alanine aminotransferase (ALT), total bile acids, and albumin]. Statistical analyses comprised Kruskal-Wallis tests for comparing trimesters and Spearman correlation coefficients for assessing associations between variables. Results: Maternal body mass index (BMI) increased significantly across trimesters, from 20.68±1.79 to 23.77±1.82 kg/m Conclusions: In this cohort, UDFF and liver stiffness increased across trimesters, reflecting physiological weight gain. These quantitative ultrasound biomarkers appear promising as noninvasive tools for monitoring early liver health, helping distinguish normal pregnancy-related hepatic changes from pathological conditions. The reference values reported in this paper may aid in improving prenatal liver assessment and guide timely interventions for optimizing maternal and fetal outcomes. However, these preliminary findings remain to be validated in larger multicenter cohorts with postpartum follow-up.
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