Roles of acoustic radiation force impulse and two-dimensional shearwave elastography in grading liver fibrosis in rabbits.
OBJECTIVE
To explore the difference between acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) and two-dimensional shearwave elastography (2D-SWE) in grading liver fibrosis (LF).


METHODS
Sixty New Zealand rabbits were divided into control group (n=10; without any treatment) and LF group (n=50; treated with CCl4 to induce LF at different degrees). Liver stiffness (LS) were measured in all the animals using ARFI and 2D-SWE, and liver tissues in the same sites were collected for pathological analysis. Spearman's rank-correlation coefficient was used for analysis between LF and LS,and the receiver operating characteristic curve was constructed to analyze the difference of the diagnostic performance of the two techniques.


RESULTS
Data were obtained from 37 animals, among which 14 sites was at F0,11 sites at F1,12 sites at F3,and 22 sites at F4.All the LS measurements were successfully performed.A significant correlation between LS and ARFI results (r=0.802,P<0.01)as well as a significant correlation between LF and 2D-SWE results (r=0.892, P<0.01)were found. The receiver operating characteristic curves were successfully constructed. The area under the curve for diagnosing LF higher than F0, F1, F2 and F3 were 0.809,0.916,0.938, and 0.934, respectively, for ARFI, and those were 0.917,0.935,0.976, and 0.974, respectively,for 2D-SWE.


CONCLUSIONS
ARFI and 2D-SWE can accurately grade LF,and 2D-SWE has a better diagnostic performance than ARFI.
Department of Ultrasonography, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China.
Nan
N
Li
Department of Ultrasonography, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China.
Yu-kun
YK
Luo
Department of Ultrasonography, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China.
Wen-bo
WB
Tang
D000818:Animals; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D012372:ROC Curve; D011817:Rabbits