Introduction of lung ultrasound surface wave elastography

Abstract

Ultrasonography is not widely used for lung assessment because ultrasound cannot image deep lung tissue. Many lung diseases including interstitial lung disease (ILD) are associated with changes in lung's elastic properties. ILD includes multiple serious lung disorders associated with lung fibrosis and can lead to respiratory failure and pulmonary hypertension. High-resolution CT (HRCT) is the clinical standard for diagnosing lung fibrosis, but it results in increased radiation exposure for patients. Lung fibrosis is associated with stiffened lung parenchyma. Current clinical techniques including HRCT cannot measure lung elastic properties. Most ILDs are typically distributed in the lung's peripheral and subpleural regions. We developed noninvasive lung ultrasound surface wave elastography (LUSWE) to measure lung surface wave speed safely and quickly. In this abstract, we will present some basics for LUSWE. We will also present its clinic application for assessing ILD. We studied 30 healthy controls, 16 mild ILD patients, 45 moderate ILD patients, and 27 severe ILD patients. Lung surface wave speed has good sensitivity and specificity for separating ILD patients from healthy subjects as well as for separating mild ILD patients from healthy subjects. LUSWE is useful for other lung disorders such as pulmonary edema.