RESUMO
Objective. To assess correlation between hepatic artery resistive index (HARI) and increase of body mass index and hepatosteatosis grading in children with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Methods. Thirty three healthy children [body mass index(BMI): mean± standart deviation(SD), min-max: 20.1±1.14(18.5-23.7), 33 overweight [BMI:25.1±2.2 (18.5-23.7)] and 66 obese [BMI:31.1±2(25.6-40)] adolescents were enrolled into the study. To search the relation of HARI with fatty liver degree, study subjects subdivided into groups according to their degree of fatty liver at ultrasonography(US). Results. Increase of HARI was correlated with increase in BMI (p<0.0001, r=0.533). Increase of HARI was well correlated with increase in degree of fatty liver (p<0.0001, r=0.630). Conclusion. The present study results suggest that there are positive correlations of HARI with BMI and hepatoseatosis grade in obese children with NAFLD. HARI may be a candidate parameter to determine early alarming hemodynamic changes in hepatic tissue of obese children with fatty liver before development of severe stages NAFLD.