Shear wave elastography in the differentiation of intra-abdominal hematoma and abscess

ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to examine the applicability of shear wave elastography as a quantitative approach for measuring tissue stiffness in the differentiation of intra-abdominal abscesses from hematomas, which share similar radiological findings.MethodsThis prospective single-center study included patients with intra-abdominal abscesses or hematomas who underwent shear wave elastography prior to ultrasound-guided drainage in an interventional radiology clinic between 2021 and 2022. An independent samples t-test was used to compare the mean shear wave velocity between the abscess and hematoma groups.ResultsA total of 50 patients (33 with abscesses and 17 with hematomas) were included in this study. The elastography values of the patients were expressed as mean ± standard deviation (minimum-maximum). The mean shear wave velocity of hematomas (1.11 ± 0.41 (0.54-1.98) m/s) was significantly higher than that of abscesses (0.68 ± 0.16 (0.36-1.07) m/s) (p < 0.001). In the receiver operating characteristic analysis, the area under the curve was 84.8%. When the optimal cutoff value was defined as 0.72, the sensitivity and specificity were 82.4% and 67%, respectively.ConclusionShear wave velocity can aid in differentiating intra-abdominal abscesses from hematomas using a simple and widely available method.