{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,12]],"date-time":"2026-06-12T17:03:34Z","timestamp":1781283814086,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"Acoustical Society of America (ASA)","issue":"6","funder":[{"name":"National Institute of Health","award":["R01CA226528"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01CA226528"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["pubs.aip.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Quantitative ultrasound parameters offer effective tools to evaluate microstructural changes in liver tissue and noninvasively assess tissue health. We examined the relationship between steatotic liver disease severity, measured by the Total Severity Score (TSS), and the structure function (SF), a frequency-dependent ultrasound backscatter metric. TSS was calculated on a 0\u201314 scale from histological evaluation by a pathologist of fibrosis, inflammation, and steatosis in hematoxylin and eosin-stained liver slides. A total of 274 regions of interest (ROIs) were examined from histopathology liver specimens acquired from 49 human subjects. SF was calculated for every ROI over a spatial frequency range of 3\u201380\u2009MHz using histology-determined cell nuclei positions. Results revealed a strong relationship between SF and TSS across all analyzed ROIs, and distinct frequency-dependent patterns emerged across TSS groups. Statistical analysis showed significant differences between TSS 0 and TSS 1\u20133 for the frequency range of 4.5 to 9.0 MHz, and between TSS 1\u20133 and TSS 4\u20136 for the frequency ranges of 3.0 to 9.0 MHz and 32.5 to 80.0 MHz. TSS groups 4\u20136 and 7\u201314 did not differ significantly, indicating a possible plateau in ultrasound response at later disease stages. These findings help lay the foundation for establishing SF as a potential ultrasonic biomarker for identifying and distinguishing steatotic liver disease stages in vivo.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1121\/10.0043904","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,12]],"date-time":"2026-06-12T16:55:22Z","timestamp":1781283322000},"page":"5266-5275","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1063\/aip-crossmark-policy-page","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Ultrasound structure function for quantitative assessment of steatotic liver disease based on total severity score"],"prefix":"10.1121","volume":"159","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0782-3782","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Matthew A.","family":"Wallig","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathobiology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 1 , Urbana, Illinois 61802,","place":["USA"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2204-4683","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"MD Rizwanul","family":"Kabir","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University 2 , Blacksburg, Virginia 24061,","place":["USA"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7606-9221","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Aiguo","family":"Han","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University 2 , Blacksburg, Virginia 24061,","place":["USA"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4373-7067","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yeonjoo","family":"Park","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Statistics and Data Science, University of Texas at San Antonio 3 , San Antonio, Texas 78249,","place":["USA"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8744-4808","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michael P.","family":"Andre","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego 4 , San Diego, California 92093,","place":["USA"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9298-7556","authenticated-orcid":false,"suffix":"Jr.","given":"William D.","family":"O'Brien","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 5 , Urbana, Illinois 61801,","place":["USA"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"231","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,12]]},"reference":[{"issue":"11","key":"2026061212551532600_c1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2567","DOI":"10.1002\/jum.16292","article-title":"Inter- and intra-operator variability of regularized backscatter quantitative ultrasound for the characterization of breast masses","volume":"42","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. 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