Canine prostatic serum esterase and strain and 2D‐shear wave sonoelastography for evaluation of normal prostate in dogs: Preliminary results

Abstract

Canine prostatic serum esterase (CPSE) is considered a useful tool to identify prostate disorders in dogs, with increasing interest in ultrasound (US)‐based sonoelastography to non‐invasively detect prostate disorders. Since no report is available about a possible correlation between these diagnostic tools, we aimed to investigate a possible correlation between strain elastography (SE) and 2D‐shear wave elastography (SWE) and CPSE. Twenty‐one dogs were included and, on each animal, CPSE was evaluated followed by a complete US examination and SE and 2D‐SWE application. Healthy dogs were identified based on the CPSE results. All the dogs included were characterized by normal CPSE values (<52.3 ng/mL) and normal US prostate appearance. The prostate was characterized by intermediate stiffness with SE (pattern III – 84.7% for the left lobe and 79.27% for the right lobe) and softer than the abdominal wall (SR 0.6 for the left lobe and 0.56 for the right lobe), with low values for both m/s and kilopascals (kPa) for 2D‐SWE, pointing that the healthy tissue is not hard. 2D‐SWE results were, respectively, 13.51 ± 5.55 kPa and 2.31 ± 0.42 m/s for the left lobe and 18.05 ± 6.47 kPa and 2.39 ± 0.43 m/s for the right lobe. The significant difference between the right and left measurements expressed with kPa, not evidenced with m/s, can be considered indicative of m/s as the most reliable measurement to be considered regarding the prostate parenchyma. Even though no linear correlation was detected between CPSE and elastography values, these preliminary results evidence that the healthy prostates were characterized by a similar elastographic pattern, thus pointing that these techniques can be potentially useful to be applied in case of prostatic disorders to improve the accuracy of the final diagnosis in a non‐invasive way.

Evaluation of the Feasibility of 2D-SWE to Measure Liver Stiffness in Healthy Dogs and Analysis of Possible Confounding Factors

“…Third, it can be used to diagnose various soft tissue diseases. A small number of studies have confirmed that 2D-SWE can measure tissue stiffness in organs such as the spleen, kidneys, and prostate [22,39,40]. All of the above suggests that 2D-SWE is an excellent diagnostic imaging tool with great clinical potential in veterinary medicine.…”

Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound (CEUS) Evaluation of Canine Prostatic Hyperplasia before and after Osaterone Acetate Therapy: Preliminary Results

“…For prostate evaluation, the B-mode ultrasound is certainly the technique of choice, allowing the evaluation of both the dimensions and the characteristics of the parenchyma [ 10 , 18 ]. In addition to the B-mode exam, further ultrasound methods are available for increasingly detailed and early information, such as the Doppler exam, which allows the evaluation of prostatic vascularization and blood flow [ 19 ], and, recently, also the strain and 2D-shear wave elastography technique, described for the study of the prostatic tissue elasticity [ 20 ]. Recently, the contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) has become an increasingly useful tool in veterinary medicine to identify organ perfusion and vascularization [ 21 ].…”