Ultraschall Med 2013; 34 - PS7_01
DOI: 10.1055/s-0033-1355078

Assessment of liver fibrosis with Supersonic Shear Wave elastography (Aixplorer™) in comparison to the transient elastography (Fibroscan®) and Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse (ARFI)-Imaging in patients with chronic liver disease

L Gerber 1, A Buslau 1, A Reichhardt 1, D Fitting 1, AO Tal 1, V Knop 1, A Vermehren 1, K Sprinzl 1, S Zeuzem 1, M Friedrich-Rust 1
  • 1J.W. Goethe-University Hospital, Department of Internal Medicine 1, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Purpose: The knowledge of the stage of liver fibrosis allows appraising the progress, prognosis, surveillance and treatment decision in patients with chronic liver diseases.

Shear-wave elastography (SWE) is a novel technique obtaining elastography images. It is based on the combination of a radiation force induced in a tissue by an ultrasonic beam and an ultrafast imaging sequence capable of catching in real time the propagation of the resulting shear waves [1,2].

In the present study the assessment of liver fibrosis using the ultrasonic-based method – Supersonic Shear Wave Elastography (SWE) (Aixplorer™, SuperSonic Imagine, France) – was evaluated and compared to the established transient elastography (TE) (Fibroscan ®, Echosens, France) and Acoustic Radiation Force Impulses (ARFI)-Imaging.

Material and methods: In the present prospective study, patients with chronic liver diseases received SWE and ARFI-imaging measured in both liver lobes, and transient elastography measured in the right liver lobe. The results were compared to liver biopsy as reference method. 26 patients, aged 64 years (SD ± 17yrs) and BMI 25 kg/m2 (SD ± 5.8).

Results: SWE, ARFI-imaging and transient elastography correlated significantly with histological fibrosis stage (p < 0.003). The diagnostic accuracy expressed as areas under ROC curves for SWE (right/left lobe), ARFI-imaging (right/left lobe) and transient elastography (right lobe) was 0.72/0.89, 0.96/0.84, and 0.74 for the diagnosis of significant fibrosis (F ≥2), and 0.80/0.96, 0.93/0.96, and 0.91 for the diagnosis of severe fibrosis (F ≥3), respectively. No significant differences were found between SWE, ARFI and transient elastography (p > 0.17).

Conclusion: SWE, ARFI-imaging and TE are comparable, reliable and useful non-invasive tools to assess liver fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease.