Portable Ultrasound Tool Quantifies Liver Fat with MRI-Like Accuracy

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is increasingly prevalent and often under-monitored because quantitative liver fat assessment is not routinely available at the bedside. MRI-proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF) is accurate but costly and not always practical for frequent follow-up, while conventional ultrasound can show high inter‑observer variability. A new device now addresses these limitations by offering MRI-aligned liver fat quantification in a portable format for point-of-care use.

ENDRA Life Sciences’ (Ann Arbor, MI, USA) TAEUS Liver uses Thermo Acoustic Enhanced UltraSound to quantify liver fat as a thermoacoustic fat fraction measurement aligned with MRI-PDFF. Designed to provide MRI-aligned performance at the point of care, the system has an anticipated per-scan cost of under USD 200, less than 8% of a typical MRI-PDFF exam. This affordable approach could make it easier to routinely monitor treatment-related changes in liver fat that are difficult to track with MRI alone.

In a multi‑site analysis combining data from 64 patients in the U.S. and Canada, including an external validation site in London, Ontario, TAEUS Liver measurements closely tracked MRI‑PDFF across patient populations. The dataset spanned the full spectrum of MASLD and included individuals with elevated body mass index. The results support a planned regulatory pathway and showed consistent performance across geographies and operators.

Performance metrics demonstrated strong concordance with MRI‑PDFF, with a correlation coefficient of 0.90 in the combined cohort. Diagnostic accuracy showed an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve between 0.95 and 0.99 at key thresholds. Mean error was approximately 3% across sites, intra‑class correlation for reproducibility across operators was 0.89, about 90% of measurements fell within roughly 5% of MRI values, and no dependence on body mass index or body habitus was observed.

“The multi‑site data aggregation shows that TAEUS Liver delivers MRI‑like liver fat quantification at the point of patient care, with a strong correlation to MRI‑PDFF of 0.90 and no meaningful bias. We believe the combination of this performance coupled with TAEUS Liver’s portability and low cost could make routine liver fat assessment feasible for the more than two billion people worldwide living with MASLD,” said Alexander Tokman, Chief Executive Officer of ENDRA Life Sciences.

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