title: Liver stiffness measurements with supersonic shear wave elastography in the diagnosis of biliary atresia: a comparative study with grey-scale US.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To prospectively assess the diagnostic performance of supersonic shear wave elastography (SSWE) in identifying biliary atresia (BA) among infants with conjugated hyperbilirubinaemia by comparing this approach with grey-scale ultrasonography (US).
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty infants were analysed as the control group to determine normal liver stiffness values. The use of SSWE values for identifying BA was investigated in 172 infants suspected of having BA, and results were compared with the results obtained by grey-scale US. The Mann-Whitney U test, unpaired t-test, Spearman correlation and linear regression were also performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The success rates of SSWE measurements in the control and study group were 100% (40/40) and 96.4% (244/253), respectively. Age, direct bilirubin, and indirect bilirubin all significantly correlated with SSWE in the liver (all P < 0.001). Linear regression showed that age had a greater effect on SSWE values than direct or indirect bilirubin. The diagnostic performance of liver stiffness values in identifying BA was lower than that of grey-scale US (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC], 0.790 vs 0.893, P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SSWE is feasible and valuable in differentiating BA from non-BA. However, its diagnostic performance does not exceed that of grey-scale US.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  • SSWE could be successfully performed in an infant population. • For infants, the liver stiffness will increase as age increases. • SSWE is potentially useful in assessing infants suspected of biliary atresia. • SSWE is inferior to grey-scale US in identifying biliary atresia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Ultrasonics, Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Ultrasound, the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 58 Zhongshan Road 2, Guangzhou, 510080, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lu-Yao
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 58 Zhongshan Road 2, Guangzhou, 510080, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Ultrasonics, Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Ultrasound, the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 58 Zhongshan Road 2, Guangzhou, 510080, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Quan-Yuan
authors.initials: QY
authors.lastname: Shan
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 58 Zhongshan Road 2, Guangzhou, 510080, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Ultrasonics, Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Ultrasound, the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 58 Zhongshan Road 2, Guangzhou, 510080, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Na
authors.initials: XN
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Ultrasonics, Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Ultrasound, the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 58 Zhongshan Road 2, Guangzhou, 510080, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Bao-Xian
authors.initials: BX
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Ultrasonics, Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Ultrasound, the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, 58 Zhongshan Road 2, Guangzhou, 510080, People's Republic of China. xxy1992sys@163.com.
authors.forename: Xiao-Yan
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Xie
mesh_terms: D001656:Biliary Atresia / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D001663:Bilirubin / Q000097:blood; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006932:Hyperbilirubinemia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008099:Liver / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D001663:Bilirubin
keywords: Biliary atresia; Elasticity imaging techniques; Hyperbilirubinaemia; Infant; Ultrasonography