CORRELATION OF LIVER STIFFNESS IN CHRONIC LIVER DISEASES BETWEEN FIBROSCAN AND 2D SHEAR WAVE ELASTOGRAPHY IN PHRAMONGKUTKLAO HOSPITAL

Abstract

Background: Noninvasive asessment of liver stiffness has been increasingly used to evaluate fibrosis instead of liver biopsy among patients with chronic liver diseases. FibroScan has been widely used as ana alternative tool to assess liver stiffness, Several studies have shown significant correlation betwen the performance in staging liver fibrosis using 2D shear wave elastography (2D-SWE) techique, FibroScan method and the histological analysis of liver biospy. The information usinf 2D-SWE is  not well established in Thailand because this rather new technology can be obtained suing high-end ultrasound machines.

Objective: The study aimed ti evaluate the coeeelation of liver stiffness in chronic liver diseases obtained by the 2D-SWE methods and a referance standard methods, FibroScan.

Methods: A properctive observational study was conducted between March and Decmeber 2018. A tota; of 30 consecutive participants aged 18-80 years having chronic liver diseases were enrolled. Liver stiffness (LS) was evaluated in the same session using two elastographic methods: FibroScan (transient elastography) and 2D-SWE techiques. The conventional 2D ultrasound of the liver was also performaed simultaneously. The assessment og fibrosis is described below: significant fibrosis (F>2), advanced fibrosis (F=4). The cut off values were 6.6, 9.4 and 11.2 kPa, respectively.  

Results: Moserate to strong positive correlations were observed between measurements obtained by FibroScan and 2D-SWE in all stages of liver fibrosis (r=0.66, p<0.01) especially in fibrosis stages 2-3.

Conclusion: The 2D-SWE techique could be another alternative tool to evaluate liver fibrosis especially during the main targeted early stages for further medical therapeutic pravention of liver stiffness progression. This 2D-SWE may be added in routine sonographic studies in particular cases of chronic liver disease.