Comparison of Two-Dimensional Shear Wave Elastography Between Two Different Instruments for Hepatocellular Carcinoma...

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Hepatology
• Diagnostic Technologies

Background:

• Liver fibrosis assessment is crucial for managing liver diseases.
• 2-dimensional shear wave elastography (2D-SWE) is a non-invasive method for evaluating liver stiffness.
• Variability in 2D-SWE measurements between different devices can impact clinical interpretation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare 2D-SWE measurements from two distinct devices (AixPlorer V and APLIO i900).
• To identify factors influencing these measurements and their ability to assess liver fibrosis stages.
• To evaluate the diagnostic performance of 2D-SWE in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients and healthy volunteers.

Main Methods:

• Prospective inclusion of 290 HCC patients and 30 healthy volunteers (October 2022 - September 2023).
• 2D-SWE measurements performed using AixPlorer V (SEmean) and APLIO i900 (CEmean).
• Statistical analysis including comparison between instruments and multivariate regression to identify influencing factors.

Main Results:

• Significant differences in 2D-SWE measurements were observed between the two devices (P < .001).
• Discrepancies were significant only in patients with F4 liver fibrosis (P < .001), not in F0-F3 stages or healthy volunteers.
• Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and fibrosis stage influenced SEmean; fibrosis stage influenced CEmean.

Conclusions:

• 2D-SWE can detect liver fibrosis, but results vary between devices, especially in advanced fibrosis (F4).
• Discrepancies were not observed in healthy individuals or those with early to moderate fibrosis (F0-F3).
• ALT levels may contribute to the observed inter-device measurement differences.