Retrospective Cohort Study of Shear-Wave Elastography and Computed Tomography Enterography in Crohn's Disease

Distinguishing between inflammatory and fibrotic lesions drastically influences treatment decision-making regarding Crohn's disease. However, it is challenging to distinguish these two phenotypes before surgery. This study investigates the diagnostic yield of shear-wave elastography and computed tomography enterography to distinguish intestinal phenotypes in Crohn's disease. Thirty-seven patients (mean age, 29.51 ± 11.52; 31 men) were evaluated with average value of shear-wave elastography (Emean) and computed tomography enterography (CTE) scores. The results demonstrated that a positive correlation between the Emean and fibrosis (Spearman's r = 0.653, p = 0.000). The cut-off value for fibrotic lesions was 21.30 KPa (AUC: 0.877, sensitivity: 88.90%, specificity: 89.50%, 95% CI:0.755~0.999, p = 0.000). The CTE score showed a positive correlation with inflammation (Spearman's r = 0.479, p = 0.003), and a 4.5-point grading system was the optimal cut-off value for inflammatory lesions (AUC: 0.766, sensitivity: 73.70%, specificity: 77.80%, 95% CI: 0.596~0.936, p = 0.006). Combining these two metrics improved the diagnostic performance and specificity (AUC: 0.918, specificity: 94.70%, 95% CI: 0.806~1.000, p = 0.000). In conclusion, shear-wave elastography can be used to help detect fibrotic lesions and the computed tomography enterography score emerged as a feasible predictor of inflammatory lesions. The combination of these two imaging techniques is proposed to distinguish intestinal predominant phenotypes.