Abstract
ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to compare in vivo vs ex vivo liver stiffness in rats with acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) elastography using the histological findings as the gold standard.MethodsEighteen male Wistar rats aged 16–18 months were divided into a control group (n = 6) and obese group (n = 12). Liver stiffness was measured with shear wave velocity (SWV) using the ARFI technique both in vivo and ex vivo. The degree of fibrosis, steatosis and liver inflammation was evaluated in the histological findings. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was applied to relate the SWV values to the histological parameters.ResultsThe SWV values acquired in the ex vivo study were significantly lower than those obtained in vivo (P < 0.004). A significantly higher correlation value between the degree of liver fibrosis and the ARFI elastography assessment was observed in the ex vivo study (r = 0.706, P < 0.002), than the in vivo study (r = 0.623, P < 0.05).ConclusionAssessment of liver stiffness using ARFI elastography yielded a significant correlation between SWV and liver fibrosis in both the in vivo and ex vivo experiments. We consider that by minimising the influence of possible sources of artefact we could improve the accuracy of the measurements acquired with ARFI.
Highlights
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common causes of chronic hepatopathy in adults, with a prevalence of up to 20–30% in developed countries [1]
With regard to the correlation for the quantitative histological liver variables, the whole study sample showed a positive and statistically significant correlation between the mean shear wave velocity (SWV) obtained by acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) and the surface area of liver fibrosis per field, in both the in vivo study (r = 0.623, P < 0.008) and ex vivo study (r = 0.706, P < 0.002), the ex vivo value being higher
The present study is a comparative analysis between liver parenchyma assessment using the ARFI technique in in vivo experiments, with the animals placed in the supine position and under heavy sedation to avoid any possible cardiac or respiratory artefacts, and in ex vivo experiments, after euthanisation of the animals and with the liver explants introduced into a container with physiological serum to minimise possible sources of artefact, such as those related to physiological factors, and improve the conditions in which we took the measurements
Summary
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common causes of chronic hepatopathy in adults, with a prevalence of up to 20–30% in developed countries [1]. This entity represents a wide spectrum of pathologies ranging from a simple steatosis (80–90% of cases) to steatohepatitis (10–20%) [2]. Today’s gold standard for assessing liver involvement is still biopsy. It does have considerable limitations and complications, some of which, though infrequent, are potentially fatal [4,5]. This makes it necessary to find a non-invasive diagnostic method to enable an accurate and reproducible assessment of this pathology
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