Liver Stiffness

This prospective observational study aims to evaluate the effect of malnutrition on liver and spleen stiffness in children using shear wave elastography. Two groups of participants will be enrolled: children diagnosed with malnutrition and age-matched healthy controls. Organ stiffness measurements will be compared between the two groups to assess the impact of malnutrition on liver and spleen tissue properties.

To construct a novel, non-invasive, accurate, and convenient method to achieve the degree of liver damage is an important general problem in the management of patients with chronic liver disease. The investigators would like to develop non invasive advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) techniques (MR elastography, MRI-PDFF) to assess the degree of liver damage in patients with chronic liver disease. These techniques could reach high diagnostic performance for detection of liver fibrosis, inflammation and liver fat content; and could decrease the number of liver biopsies, which have risks and sample only a small portion of the liver.