Accuracy of real-time shear wave elastography in the assessment of normal liver tissue in the guinea pig (cavia porcellus)

Abstract

Shear wave elastography is a novel technique enabling real-time measurement of the elasticity of liver tissue. The color map is superimposed on the classic ultrasound image of the assessed tissue, which enables a precise evaluation of the stiffness of the liver tissue. The aim of the study was to assess the stiffness of normal liver tissue in the guinea pig using shear wave elastography. The study was carried out on 36 guinea pigs using the SuperSonic Imagine Aixplorer scanner, and a 1 to 6 MH convex SC6-1 transducer. An ultrasound guided Try-Cut liver core needle biopsy was carried out in all the studied animals and the collected samples were examined to exclude pathological lesions. The mean liver tissue stiffness ranged from 0.89 to 5.40 kPa. We found that shear wave elastography is an easy, non-invasive technique that can be used to assess the stiffness of liver tissue. The obtained results can be used in future studies to assess the types and changes of liver tissue in the course of various types of liver disease.

Mechanical properties of human hepatic tissues to develop liver-mimicking phantoms for medical applications

“…The attenuation and shear wave velocity for fifteen transplanted livers have diagnosed patients with severe rejection and revealed a high agreement with biopsy results (Deffieux et al 2015 ). Recently, the viscosity biomarker has facilitated supersonic shear imaging (SSI) to release its latest and advanced characterizing device with novel liver features like the viscosity imaging feature (Glińska-Suchocka et al 2017 ). Furthermore, utilizing SSI provided more accuracy than from shear wave imaging using transient elastography (TE) from FibroScan (Glińska-Suchocka et al 2017 ).…”

“…Recently, the viscosity biomarker has facilitated supersonic shear imaging (SSI) to release its latest and advanced characterizing device with novel liver features like the viscosity imaging feature (Glińska-Suchocka et al 2017 ). Furthermore, utilizing SSI provided more accuracy than from shear wave imaging using transient elastography (TE) from FibroScan (Glińska-Suchocka et al 2017 ). Figure 5 displays the imaging of healthy and cirrhotic liver with real-time viscosity values (Rus et al 2020 ).…”

“…The frequency response in the KVFD model undergoes a monotonically increase dissimilar to that in the SLS model, attaining a plateau (Glińska-Suchocka et al 2017 ; Pi et al 2021 ). In addition, the measured velocity during the propagation of shear waves across the liver at distinct values ranging from 40 Hz to 14 MHz indicates the monotonical increase of shear velocity with frequency (Glińska-Suchocka et al 2017 ; Pi et al 2021 ). Concluding from the dynamic testing on tissues of the canine liver, the KVFD model exhibited a good fit with the experimental data compared to other models, such as the KV model (Yeh et al 2015 ).…”

“…Nevertheless, systematic studies have described and characterized the tissue mechanical behavior in vivo with datasets frequently restricted to minor deformations (Mazza et al 2007 ). Furthermore, the in vivo data interpretation is also tricky due to the incapability to regulate the internal condition of the organ and challenges in finding a suitable arrangement for positioning the tested specimen and instrument (Crescenzi et al 2019 ; Glińska-Suchocka et al 2017 ).…”

Polish Journal of Veterinary Sciences

“…With the development of novel elastographic techniques, numerous studies have been performed on the use of elastography to assess muscle, tendon and thyroid disorders as well as neoplastic disorders (Bhatia et al 2012). In veterinary medicine, several studies have looked into the clinical application of elastography (Kallel et al 1999, Fernandez et al 2017, Glińska--Suchocka et al 2017). The results of these studies indicate that elastography may be used in the diagnosis of mammary gland, testicular, hepatic, adrenal and prostate lesions.…”