Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of high-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) and shear wave elastography (SWE) in the quantitative evaluation of therapeutic responses of keloids. 43 patients with 76 keloids were recruited into this study. In keloids and symmetrical sites, the skin thickness was measured using HFUS and skin stiffness expressed as elastic moduli (Young’s modulus and shear wave velocity) was measured using SWE. The coefficient of variation values were calculated by using difference values of skin elastic moduli and skin thickness. A significant increase of both skin stiffness and thickness appeared in pre-treated keloids compared with post-treated keloids (P < 0.001) and normal controls (P < 0.001), respectively. Stiffness in post-treated keloids and normal skins was significantly different (P < 0.001), while the difference in thickness measurements showed no significance (P = 0.56, >0.05). The coefficient of variation of Young’s modulus was the highest when compared between (i) pre-treated keloids and theirs site-matched areas; (ii) pre-treated and post-treated keloids. SWE, which showed greater ability in determining the extent of keloids recovery, may provide an ideal tool to assess the stiffness of keloids and theirs therapeutic response.
Highlights
The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of high-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) and shear wave elastography (SWE) in the quantitative evaluation of therapeutic responses of keloids. 43 patients with 76 keloids were recruited into this study
The skin thickness in keloids was significantly changed before and after treatment (P < 0.001). These results revealed that HFUS could help differentiate keloids from normal skin, and assess thickness of keloids before and after treatment, which is consistent with previous findings[3,9,10,11,27]
It should be noted that in the present study, the difference in skin thickness between TK group and NS group was not statistically significant (P = 0.56, >0.05), indicating that the skin thickness in keloids basically reduced to the normal level after treatment (Fig. 4A)
Summary
The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of high-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) and shear wave elastography (SWE) in the quantitative evaluation of therapeutic responses of keloids. 43 patients with 76 keloids were recruited into this study. High-frequency ultrasound (HFUS), as a versatile diagnostic method with non-invasive and inexpensive properties, was introduced to evaluate keloids, which showed a great potential in assessment of thickness and echogenicity of keloid[3,7,9,10,11] Another technique named ultrasound elastography, including strain elastography, acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging, quantitative ARFI method and shear wave elastography (SWE)[12], may assist observers in evaluation of the stiffness of keloids. The aim of the present study was to measure skin thickness and elasticity in patients with keloids using HFUS and SWE respectively to indicate whether these two ultrasonic techniques could assess the therapeutic response in keloids
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