Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease

with an estimated prevalence of up to 30% in the whole population. Liver steatosis is an important histological feature of NAFLD

which can lead to liver fibrosis or cirrhosis

and even increase the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma as the disease progresses. The gold standard for quantitatively evaluating liver steatosis is liver biopsy

but it is invasive. Imaging technology enables non-invasive and quantitative assessment of liver fat. The guidelines recommend ultrasound as the first-line imaging diagnostic method for NAFLD

which has the advantages of being convenient

real-time

non-invasive and visualization. Recently

quantitative ultrasonic technologies have emerged

and the technical parameters include attenuation coefficient

backscatter coefficient

and sound velocity. However

there is limited evidence for the clinical application of various new ultrasound technologies

and a large amount of research is needed to explore and optimizeoperational methods to reduce the impact factors on measurement. This review introduced the change in the name of fatty liver disease

the current status of clinical diagnosis

the interpretation of international consensus from the World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology

and introduced representative quantitative ultrasound techniques based on attenuation coefficient

with their diagnostic value in the detection of hepatic steatosis. Moreover

this review evaluated diagnosis

monitoring

and prediction by ultrasound quantitative detection technology for the application of hepatic steatosis.