ULTRASOUND ATTENUATION AND BACKSCATTER IN THE LIVER DURING PREDNISONEADMINISTRATION

Ultrasound attenuation and backscatter changes resulting from glucocor ticoid administration were investigated in a dog model. Ten beagle dog s were randomized into two groups: five were given 2 mg/kg/day IM inje ctions of prednisone to induce steroid hepatopathy and five served as controls. Histology showed vacuolization in most hepatocytes of treate d animals on the third day of treatment, and larger, midzonally distri buted vacuoles from day 7 on. An increase in both ultrasonic attenuati on and backscatter was observed in treated dogs during in vivo measure ments. Pooled data from the two groups suggest that attenuation elevat ions precede backscatter changes. Attenuation was significantly higher in the treated animals than in the controls by day 7. Both attenuatio n and backscatter were significantly higher in livers of treated than untreated dogs when measured by direct application of the transducer o n the liver following euthanasia. We conclude that attenuation and bac kscatter coefficients can detect early changes in the liver associated with steroid hepatopathy. This may be a useful model to investigate d etection of diffuse liver disease with ultrasound tissue characterizat ion. Copyright (C) 1997 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology.