title: The performance of acoustic radiation force impulse imaging in predicting liver fibrosis in chronic liver diseases.
abstract: Sonography-based noninvasive liver fibrosis assessment is promising in the prediction of treatment efficacy and prognosis in chronic liver disease (CLD) patients. Acoustic radiation force impulse imaging (ARFI) is a newly-developed transient elastography (TE) method integrated into a conventional ultrasound machine. The study aimed to assess the performance of ARFI imaging in the diagnosis of liver fibrosis in Taiwanese CLD patients. We also aimed to search for the optimal cut-off values in different fibrosis stages. A total of 60 CLD patients (40 males; mean age, 51.8±11 years) were consecutively included. They received standard ARFI measurement within 2 weeks at the time of liver biopsy. There were eight patients with Metavir fibrosis stage 0 (F0), 16 patients with F1, 20 patients with F2, eight patients with F3, and eight patients with F4, respectively. The mean values among patient with F0, F1, F2, F3, and F4 were 1.17±0.13, 1.30±0.17, 1.31±0.24, 2.01±0.45, and 2.69±0.91, respectively (p<0.001). The optimal cut-off ARFI value for significant fibrosis (F≥2) was 1.53 with the accuracy of 0.733, while it was 1.66 for advanced fibrosis (F≥3) with the accuracy of 0.957. Our study demonstrated that ARFI imaging is competent for fibrosis diagnosis, particularly in CLD patients with advanced fibrosis.
authors.affiliation: Hepatobiliary Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yi-Hung
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Hepatobiliary Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Faculty of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ming-Lun
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Yeh
authors.affiliation: Hepatobiliary Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ching-I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Hepatobiliary Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jeng-Fu
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Municipal Hsiao-Kang Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Hepatobiliary Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Po-Cheng
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Hepatobiliary Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Faculty of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chung-Feng
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Hepatobiliary Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Faculty of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chia-Yen
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: Hepatobiliary Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Faculty of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Zu-Yau
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Hepatobiliary Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Faculty of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Shinn-Cherng
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Hepatobiliary Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Faculty of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Electronic address: jfliver@kmu.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Jee-Fu
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Hepatobiliary Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Faculty of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ming-Lung
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Hepatobiliary Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Faculty of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Wan-Long
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Chuang
mesh_terms: D019540:Area Under Curve; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003710:Demography; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012372:ROC Curve
keywords: Acoustic radiation force impulse imaging; Chronic liver disease; Liver fibrosis