Multimodal Ultrasound for Assessment of Renal Fibrosis in Biopsy-Proven Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease

To establish a discriminant function model combining clinical data and multimodal ultrasound to predict the degree of renal fibrosis in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and to explore the application value of the non-invasive assessment of renal fibrosis by new ultrasound techniques.Clinical data and ultrasonography, shear wave elastography, and angio planewave ultrasensitive imaging characteristics of patients with CKD were collected. The significant indicators were screened to establish discriminant function models to distinguish the degree of renal fibrosis, and the diagnostic efficacy was evaluated.The 158 patients were divided into 4 groups according to pathological results. The significant indicators among or within the 4 groups were mainly age, estimated glomerular filtration rate, serum creatinine, peak systolic velocity and resistance index of renal arteries, kidney elasticity, and arcuate artery vascular density (p<0.05). The discriminant function models exhibited good diagnostic efficiency and higher accuracy compared to any single indicator.The SWE elasticity value of the kidney increases with the degree of fibrosis, while AP can visualize microvascular conditions qualitatively and quantitatively. Multimodal ultrasound combined with clinical data is a non-invasive strategy for the assessment of renal fibrosis.