B-mode image acquisition and image quality of solid abdominal organs as well as shear wave speed in liver elastography in morbidly obese adults: a pilot study comparison of the investigational DAX (Deep Abdominal Transducer) versus commercial transducer using MRI as reference standard

Obesity is a common limitation of all ultrasound-based elastography methods as depth penetration is limited. On the other hand, overweight and obese patients are more likely to have NAFLD and to progress to NASH or fibrosis and therefore may need surveillance to monitor their liver disease. The evaluation and assessment of a newly developed ultrasound probe, which is able to image in greater depth, is very clinically relevant and would provide an excellent tool to monitor liver disease in overweight and obese patients at higher risks in evolving liver diseases.
The ultrasound transducer that will be used and compared to a conventional one in this study is not commercially available and until now no research results reporting its use are available, therefore this research is very novel. Other sites are evaluating the transducer as well, but the patient cohort in whom we are using it is very unique (obese patients, in parts undergoing weight loss surgery). Furthermore, all study subjects will have recently completed magnetic resonance elastography (MRE), which provides a particular possibility to also compare ultrasound elastography results to MRE results.