Ultrasound shear wave elastography values of thymus in healthy children

The anatomy and aspect of the thymus varies with age. In this study, our aim is to determine the mean stiffness and the average shear wave velocity (SWV) of the thymus gland using shear wave elastography (SWE) in healthy children and to establish reference values.

Attention was paid to ensure that the thymus parenchyma was homogeneous in ultrasound (US) and that there was no abnormal vascularity in color Doppler US. Then, the thymus was examined by SWE. The tissue stiffness was evaluated and SWV was measured as m/s.

In our study, a total of 385 healthy children, including 191 girls and 194 boys between 0-18 years were included. The mean SWV values we obtained in SWE examinations were 0.735±0.117 m/s (range 0.51-1.20 m/s) in girls, 0.734±0.122 m/s (range 0.51-1.11 m/s) in boys, and 0.735±0.120 m/s (range 0.51-1.20 m/s) in all children.

The SWE values we obtained can be used as reference values for healthy children. These results may be useful in the differential diagnosis of thymus pathologies and ET.