Ultrasound elastography of ethanol-induced hepatic lesions: in vitro study

To study the value of ultrasound elastography in evaluation of ethanol-induced lesions of liver.

Alcohol with a dose of 2 ml was injected into a fresh porcine liver under ultrasound guidance to create stiff necrosis. Then freehand elastography of the lesion from the identical scan plane was obtained with SONOLINE Antares system using VF10-5 probe at about every 30 seconds till 6 minutes later. The original high quality radiofrequency data were acquired through an ultrasound research interface which was provided by the ultrasound system. Then, corresponding elastograms were produced offline using cross-correlation technique and compared with gross pathology findings.

Gray-scale sonogram showed a hyperechoic area with acoustic shadow below appeared immediately after alcohol injection. The hyperechoic area tended to be diffuse and its boundary to be illegible with time. On the contrary, the ethanol-induced lesion in elastogram appeared as a low strain hard region surrounded by high strain soft hepatic tissues, with clear but irregular boundaries. Sequential elastograms with the sketched lesion boundaries showed that the lesion area increased in the first 3 minutes after ethanol injection, and then reached a plateau which corresponding to gross specimen.

Ultrasound elastography is capable of detecting and evaluating the diffusion of ethanol-induced hepatic lesion, and more sensitive and accurate than routine sonography.