Ultrasound-Based Quantification of Fibrosis and Steatosis with a New Software Considering Transient Elastography as
Alexandru Popa1, Roxana Șirli1, Alina Popescu1
1Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, ''Victor Babeș'' University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timișoara, România.
Abstract:
The goal of this study was to evaluate the performance of two new ultrasound-based techniques (ShearWave PLUS elastography [2-D-SWE PLUS], SSp PLUS Imaging [SSp PLUS]) implemented on the Aixplorer Mach 30 ultrasound system (Supersonic Imagine, Aix-en-Provence, France) for the non-invasive assessment of liver steatosis and fibrosis, using transient elastography (TE) with the controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) as reference. This monocentric cross-sectional study included 133 consecutive adult patients with chronic hepatopathies. Liver stiffness and steatosis were evaluated in the same session using the techniques mentioned above. An excellent correlation was observed between liver stiffness measurements obtained with 2-D-SWE PLUS and TE (r = 0.92, p < 0.0001). The best cutoff value of 2-D-SWE PLUS for predicting F≥2 was 6.8 kPa; for F≥3, 8.4 kPa; and for F4, 11 kPa. With respect to steatosis evaluation, a strong negative correlation between CAP and SSp PLUS values (r = -0.70, p < 0.0001) was obtained. The best SSp PLUS cutoff value for predicting steatosis was 1537 m/s.
