title: Time Harmonic Elastography Reveals Sensitivity of Liver Stiffness to Water Ingestion.
abstract: The aim of the study was to test the sensitivity of liver stiffness (LS) measured by time harmonic elastography in large tissue windows to water uptake and post-prandial effects. Each subject gave written informed consent to participate in this institutional review board-approved prospective study. LS was measured by time harmonic elastography in 10 healthy volunteers pre- and post-prandially, as well as before, directly after and 2 h after drinking water. The LS-time function during water intake was measured in 14 scans over 3 h in five volunteers. LS increased by 10% (p = 0.0015) post-prandially and by 11% (p = 0.0024) after pure water ingestion, and decreased to normal values after 2 h. LS was lower after overnight fasting than after 2-h fasting (3%, p = 0.04). Over the time course, LS increased to post-water peak values 15 min after drinking 0.25 L water and remained unaffected by further ingestion of water. In conclusion, our study indicates that LS measured by time harmonic elastography represents an effective-medium property sensitive to physiologic changes in vascular load of the liver.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Selcan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ipek-Ugay
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Heiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tzschätzsch
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hudert
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Stephan Rodrigo
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Marticorena Garcia
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Informatics, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Althoff
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: ingolf.sack@charite.de.
authors.forename: Ingolf
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sack
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004435:Eating / Q000502:physiology; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D019518:Postprandial Period / Q000502:physiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012016:Reference Values; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014867:Water / Q000008:administration & dosage*
chemical_list: D014867:Water
keywords: Blood volume; Hepatic vasculature; Liver stiffness; Prandial effects; Time harmonic elastography; Water uptake