Shear-wave elastography evaluation of adrenal glands in healthy newborns: a preliminary study

Establishing standard shear-wave elastography (SWE) values for healthy newborns can help distinguish normal conditions of the adrenal gland (AG) from pathological conditions. We aimed to establish a reference data set for AG stiffness values using SWE in healthy newborns.

The quantitative stiffness of the AG was measured in the coronal plane in kilopascal (kPa). The quantitative descriptive statistics were presented as mean with standard deviation and median with range. The relationship between the quantitative variables was calculated using "Spearman's rank correlation coefficient test." The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) test was used to analyze intraobserver reliability. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

A total of 120 AGs of 60 healthy newborns (30 females and 30 males) was examined. The mean stiffness values of the right AG for the first and second visits were 7.51±2.45 and 7.54±2.49 kPa, respectively, and those of the left AG for the first and second visits were 7.60±2.03 and 7.42±1.97 kPa, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between the mean values of adrenal stiffness and the length and width of AG and weight, height, and age (p>0.05). The ICC values for mean stiffness values of each AG were >0.80-0.90, indicating good intraobserver agreement.

This study is the first SWE study to evaluate the AG in healthy newborns. Our study's data can be used as a reference for future research.