Liver stiffness quantification in patients with fatty liver using shear wave (2d) elastography

Abstract

Inflammation & stiffness of the hepatic tissue, which leads to cirrhosis, portal hypertension, & ultimately hepatocellular cancer, is the main effect of fatty liver disease. Elastography & the fibrosis score have been investigated as non-invasive objective replacements for biopsy & other methods to reduce reliance on them. The aim of current study was to quantify liver fibrosis by using shear wave elastography in patients with fatty liver & also to determine the degree of stiffness & therefore the stage of liver fibrosis. Material & methods: This hospital based prospective study was conducted Department of Radiodiagnosis, Govt. Superspeciality hospital, GMC Jammu during a period of 6 months. Total 50 participants underwent underwent 2D shear wave elastography & the values were compared with metavir scores. Statistical analysis was performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) statistics version 23.0. Results: The mean age was 46.8±10.9 years including 26% females and 74 % males. The maximum (60%) subjects had fatty liver grade 1 and 4% had cirrhosis. The 44% subjects had metavir score of F0. The average SWE score of subjects was 7.14 ± 5.04 kPa. Conclusion: Shear wave elastography in two dimensions performed well in terms of diagnosing liver stiffness.