Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Mar 12;14(6):604.
doi: 10.3390/diagnostics14060604.

Comparison of Transient Elastography and Point Shear Wave Elastography for Analysis of Liver Stiffness: A Prospective Study

Giuseppe Losurdo  1 , Ilaria Ditonno  1 , Domenico Novielli  1 , Francesca Celiberto  1   2 , Andrea Iannone  1 , Antonino Castellaneta  1 , Paola Dell'Aquila  1 , Nunzio Ranaldo  1 , Maria Rendina  1 , Michele Barone  1 , Enzo Ierardi  1 , Alfredo Di Leo  1
Affiliations

Comparison of Transient Elastography and Point Shear Wave Elastography for Analysis of Liver Stiffness: A Prospective Study

Giuseppe Losurdo et al. Diagnostics (Basel). .

Abstract

Liver stiffness measurement (LSM) by Fibroscan is the most used non-invasive method to assess liver fibrosis. Recently, point-shear wave elastography (pSWE) has been introduced as a simple alternative non-invasive test. Therefore, we aimed to compare the results of these two techniques. One hundred and eighty-four consecutive patients attending our outpatient ultrasound clinic were recruited. LSM was performed by both Fibroscan and pSWE. Statistical analysis was conducted by Spearman's test for correlation and linear regression. Bland-Altman graphs and ROC curves were drawn with area under the curve (AUC). Overall, the correlation of LS between Fibroscan and pSWE was substantial (r = 0.68, p < 0.001). Linear regression showed a coefficient b= 0.94 ± 0.02. The Bland-Altman plot found a bias of -0.10, with only 11 values exceeding the 95% confidence interval. When only considering patients with a LSM of > 10 kPa (n = 31), we found an excellent r = 0.79 (0.60-0.90, p < 0.001). A cutoff of 12.15 kPa for pSWE had sensitivity = 74.2% and specificity = 99.3% to detect relevant fibrosis, with an AUC = 0.98. The highest correlation was observed for hepatitis C (r = 0.91) and alcoholic liver disease (ALD)(r = 0.99). In conclusion, pSWE shows LSM estimation in agreement with Fibroscan in most cases, and the best concordance was observed for hepatitis C and ALD, and for higher ranges of LS.

Keywords: fibroscan; liver fibrosis; shear wave elastography; stiffness.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Scatterplot and linear regression line of TE compared to pSWE in the overall cohort of patients; (b) Bland–Altman plot in the overall cohort of patients.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) Scatterplot for correlation for the subgroup of patients with LS < 6 kPa; (b) ROC curve for the subgroup of patients with LS < 6 kPa.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a) Scatterplot for correlation for the subgroup of patients with LS 6–10 kPa; (b) ROC curve for the subgroup of patients with LS 6–10 kPa.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) Scatterplot for correlation for the subgroup of patients with LS > 10 kPa; (b) ROC curve for the subgroup of patients with LS > 10 kPa.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Scatterplots reporting the correlation analysis for subgroups according to the etiology: HCV (a), HBV (b), NASH (c), ALD (d), AIH (e), PBC-PSC (f), unexplained hypertransaminasemia (g), and other causes (h).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Udompap P., Kim D., Kim W.R. Current and Future Burden of Chronic Nonmalignant Liver Disease. Clin. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. Off. Clin. Pract. J. Am. Gastroenterol. Assoc. 2015;13:2031–2041. doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2015.08.015. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Horowitz J.M., Venkatesh S.K., Ehman R.L., Jhaveri K., Kamath P., Ohliger M.A., Samir A.E., Silva A.C., Taouli B., Torbenson M.S., et al. Evaluation of hepatic fibrosis: A review from the society of abdominal radiology disease focus panel. Abdom. Radiol. N. Y. 2017;42:2037–2053. doi: 10.1007/s00261-017-1211-7. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Castera L. Invasive and non-invasive methods for the assessment of fibrosis and disease progression in chronic liver disease. Best Pract. Res. Clin. Gastroenterol. 2011;25:291–303. doi: 10.1016/j.bpg.2011.02.003. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Regev A., Berho M., Jeffers L.J., Milikowski C., Molina E.G., Pyrsopoulos N.T., Feng Z.Z., Reddy K.R., Schiff E.R. Sampling error and intraobserver variation in liver biopsy in patients with chronic HCV infection. Am. J. Gastroenterol. 2002;97:2614–2618. doi: 10.1111/j.1572-0241.2002.06038.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bravo A.A., Sheth S.G., Chopra S. Liver biopsy. N. Engl. J. Med. 2001;344:495–500. doi: 10.1056/NEJM200102153440706. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources