Evaluation of liver tumors using acoustic radiation force impulse elastography and correlation with histologic data

Acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) technology represents an innovative method for the quantification of tissue elasticity. The aims of this study were to evaluate elasticity by ARFI in both liver tumors and background liver tissue and to compare ARFI measurements with histologic data in liver tumors and background liver.

Seventy-nine tumors were prospectively studied: 43 benign and 36 malignant. Acoustic radiation force impulse measurements for each tumor type were expressed as mean ± standard deviation for both liver tumors and background liver; ARFI data were also correlated with histologic data.

For liver tumors, the mean stiffness values were 1.90 ± 0.86 m/s for hepatocellular adenoma (n = 9), 2.14 ± 0.49 m/s for hemangioma (n = 15), 3.14 ± 0.63 m/s for focal nodular hyperplasia (n = 19), 2.4 ± 1.01 m/s for hepatocellular carcinoma (n = 24), and 3.0 ± 1.36 m/s for metastasis (n = 12). Important variations were observed within each tumor type or within a single tumor. These variations could have been due to necrosis, hemorrhage, or colloid. There was no statistically significant difference between the benign and malignant groups. Regarding background liver, it was possible to observe pathologic abnormalities in histologic analyses or liver function tests to explain the ARFI data. The degree of fibrosis was not the only determinant of liver stiffness in background liver; other factors such as portal embolization, sinusoidal obstruction syndrome caused by chemotherapy, and cholestasis, also could have interfered.

Acoustic radiation force impulse elastography could not allow differentiation between benign and malignant tumors. This study provides a better understanding of the correlation between ARFI and histologic data for both tumors and background liver.