Comparison of two-dimensional shear wave elastography on liver fibrosis of patients with viral and non-viral hepatitis

Abstract

Objective To explore the clinical application and diagnostic efficiency of two-dimensional shear wave elastography (2D-SWE) in assessing liver fibrosis of patients with viral and non-viral hepatitis. Methood Seventy-three patients with viral hepatitis and sixty with non-viral hepatitis scheduled for liver biopsy in the third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University from April, 2011 to January, 2013 were enrolled in this study. The Young's modulus in different fibrosis stages, correlation coefficients of liver fibrosis level and area under receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) were compared between patients with viral and non-viral hepatitis respectively. Results The hepatic Young's modulus of patients with viral and non-viral hepatitis in S0-1, S2-3, S4 were 6.1 (4.8-6.6) kPa,7.4 (6.0-8.4) kPa,10.3 (7.6-14.0) kPa, and 10.7 (8.0-13.5) kPa,24.7 (17.4-32.1) kPa,26.8 (16.5-31.7) kPa, respectively. The difference of Young's modulus between viral and non-viral hepatitis in S0-1 were statistically significant (Z=-3.45, P=0.001), while not in S2-3 and S=4 (Z=-0.40, -0.06, P=0.686, 0.956). Correlation coefficients of liver fibrosis with 2D-SWE in viral and non-viral hepatitis are 0.964, 0.817 ( both P=0.000 ) with statistically significant difference (Z=2.42, P=0.015). The area under ROC for S≥2 and S=4 in viral and non-viral hepatitis were 0.964 and 0.930, 0.817 and 0.906 respectively. The comparison was significantly different for S≥2 (Z=-2.47, P=0.014), while not for S=4 (Z=-0.502, P=0.616). Conclusion In liver fibrosis assessment, the diagnosis efficiency of 2D-SWE in patients with viral and non-viral hepatitis was different and dependent on fibrosis stage. Key words: Ultrasonography; Elasticity imaging techniques; Hepatitis; Liver cirrhosis