title: Differences in liver stiffness values obtained with new ultrasound elastography machines and Fibroscan: A comparative study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Whether Fibroscan thresholds can be immediately adopted for none, some or all other shear wave elastography techniques has not been tested. The aim of the present study was to test the concordance of the findings obtained from 7 of the most recent ultrasound elastography machines with respect to Fibroscan.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixteen hepatitis C virus-related patients with fibrosis ≥2 and having reliable results at Fibroscan were investigated in two intercostal spaces using 7 different elastography machines. Coefficients of both precision (an index of data dispersion) and accuracy (an index of bias correction factors expressing different magnitudes of changes in comparison to the reference) were calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Median stiffness values differed among the different machines as did coefficients of both precision (range 0.54-0.72) and accuracy (range 0.28-0.87). When the average of the measurements of two intercostal spaces was considered, coefficients of precision significantly increased with all machines (range 0.72-0.90) whereas of accuracy improved more scatteredly and by a smaller degree (range 0.40-0.99).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present results showed only moderate concordance of the majority of elastography machines with the Fibroscan results, preventing the possibility of the immediate universal adoption of Fibroscan thresholds for defining liver fibrosis staging for all new machines.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: fabio.piscaglia@unibo.it.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Piscaglia
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Veronica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Salvatore
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mulazzani
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiological Sciences, Policlinico Umberto I, University La Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Vito
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cantisani
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Colecchia
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Di Donato
authors.affiliation: Unit of Internal Medicine and Organ Insufficiency, S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Felicani
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ferrarini
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Nesrine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gamal
authors.affiliation: Unit of Internal Medicine and Organ Insufficiency, S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Grasso
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Marasco
authors.affiliation: Unit of Internal Medicine and Organ Insufficiency, S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mazzotta
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ravaioli
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Disease, G. d'Annunzio University, Chieti, Italy.
authors.forename: Giacomo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ruggieri
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Ilaria
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Serio
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Joules Fabrice
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Sitouok Nkamgho
authors.affiliation: Unit of Internal Medicine and Organ Insufficiency, S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Serra
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Festi
authors.affiliation: Unit of Internistic Ultrasound, Department of Medicine and Science of Aging, G. d'Annunzio University, Chieti, Italy.
authors.forename: Cosima
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schiavone
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bolondi
mesh_terms: D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
keywords: Cirrhosis; Fibroscan; Liver fibrosis; Shear wave elastography; Transient elastography