The presence of fatty liver was evaluated by sonography. Severity was graded as normal, mild, moderate, or severe based on the degree of fat infiltration [17 ]. Liver echotexture, attenuation, and visualization of the intrahepatic vessel borders and/or the diaphragm were used as indices.
Liver stiffness was measured using MRE. All MRE examinations were performed on an MRE hardware (GE Healthcare, Waukesha, WI, USA) with a 1.5 T imaging system using a two-dimensional MRE protocol [18 (link)]. The cut-off values for severity of liver fibrosis were set at MRE values; ≥stage 2 (namely ≥F2 or significant fibrosis), ≥3.0 kPa; ≥stage 3 (namely ≥F3 or advanced fibrosis), ≥3.6 kPa; and stage 4 (namely F4 or cirrhosis), ≥4.7 kPa [19 (link)].
Liver stiffness was measured using MRE. All MRE examinations were performed on an MRE hardware (GE Healthcare, Waukesha, WI, USA) with a 1.5 T imaging system using a two-dimensional MRE protocol [18 (link)]. The cut-off values for severity of liver fibrosis were set at MRE values; ≥stage 2 (namely ≥F2 or significant fibrosis), ≥3.0 kPa; ≥stage 3 (namely ≥F3 or advanced fibrosis), ≥3.6 kPa; and stage 4 (namely F4 or cirrhosis), ≥4.7 kPa [19 (link)].
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