Assessment of liver volume with computed tomography and comparison of findings with ultrasonography Aydın Bora, 1 Cem Alptekin, 1 Alpaslan Yavuz, 1 Abdussamet Batur, 1 Zu ¨lku ¨ f Akdemir, 1 Mehmet Berko ¨z 2 1 Faculty of Medicine, Department of Radiodiagnosis, Yuzuncu Yıl University, 65080 Van, Turkey 2 Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Yuzuncu Yıl University, 65080 Van, Turkey Abstract Background and purpose: In this study, we aimed to investigate the impact of non-alcoholic hepatic steatosis on the liver volume. As investigating hepatic steatosis, we utilized computed tomography (CT) to determine the degree of steatosis and we utilized hepatobiliary ultraso- nography (USG) for densitometry and correlation. Materials and methods: As hepatosteatosis group, 35 patients over 18 years of age and whose abdominal CT scans were requested by several clinics and performed routinely were included in this study, and as control group, 40 healthy subjects without hepatosteatosis (clin- ically and radiologically) and correlated with hepatos- teatosis group in terms of age and gender were included in this study. CT densitometry and liver attenuation index (LAI) of all individuals who participated in our study were calculated, and contrast images of patients were transferred to CT-Volume Software (Siemens Syn- go Multimodality Workplace; Version VE52A). In this study, interactive and automated volume measurement techniques were used together. The volumes were mea- sured separately in patient and control group. Results: In this study for each stage in USG, there was found a direct correlation in terms of LAI and volume, and this correlation was statistically significant (p < 0.01). Furthermore, statistical significance between size and USG stage draws attention (p < 0.05). A significance relation- ship between USG stage and age could not be determined. Conclusion: As a result, we have reached the conclusion that CT densitometry can be used as an assistive technique along with USG to determine the degree of steatosis in the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and there is a positive linear correlation between the liver size and volume, and liver volume increases in the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Key words: Hepatosteatosis—Ultrasonography— Computed tomography—Liver attenuation index Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a clinical manifestation of which frequency increases nowadays and which can cause last-stage liver disease. Prevalence of NAFLD varies between 10% and 24% [1, 2]. It fre- quently accompanies obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipidemia. Not only NAFLD can take the form of simple steatosis, but also it can cause a broad spec- trum of clinical signs such as steatohepatitis, advanced fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular cancer in which necroinflammatory activity exists with steatosis [3–5]. Radiologic findings are of great importance in the diagnosis of fatty liver. In the majority of the fatty liver cases that we encounter in the clinic, the finding that initiates the diagnosis process is to determine hepatosteatosis by ultra- sonography. Even though sensitivity and specificity of the CT and MR are higher in the diagnosis of hepatosteatosis, their contributions in this area remain in the background for they are not as commonly used as ultrasonography [6, 7]. USG is used as scanning test in clinic for some rea- sons such as showing soft tissues very good, being lack of radiation, being cheap, and having simple application. Liver sizes are evaluated qualitatively at first, and diffuse or focal disease involving the liver parenchyma is inves- tigated. Sonography of fatty infiltration is varied depending on the amount of fat and whether deposits are diffuse or focal. A sonographic grading system is used for determining diffuse steatosis grade ranging from 0 to 3, Correspondence to: Aydın Bora; email: abora6565@hotmail.com ª Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014 Abdominal Imaging Abdom Imaging (2014) DOI: 10.1007/s00261-014-0146-5