Comparative study between two point Shear Wave Elastographic techniques: Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse (ARFI) elastography and ElastPQ

Abstract

Aim: To compare the feasibility and the liver stiffness (LS) values obtained by means of the two available point Shear Wave Elastographic (pSWE) techniques: ARFI elastography and ElastPQ technique. Material and methods: Our study included 176 subjects with or without chronic liver disease, in which LS was evaluated in the same session by means of ARFI elastography and ElastPQ. Results: Ten valid measurements were obtained in all subjects by means of ARFI elastography and in 97.7% cases by means of ElastPQ (p=0.12). Reliable LS measurements by means of ARFI elastography were obtained in 170/176 subjects (96.5%), so the final analysis included 166/176 subjects (94.3%). The mean LS values by ARFI were significantly higher than those obtained by ElastPQ: 1.46±0.69 m/s vs. 1.32±0.52 m/s, p=0.0004. For a LS cut-off value >1.4 m/second, ARFI elastography had 83.1%accuracy (AUROC=0.822) to differentiate between subjects with or without chronic liver disease, while the best ElastPQ cut-off value to discriminate between these two categories of subjects was >1.23 m/ second, with 83.7% accuracy (AUROC=0.851). Conclusions: Both available pSWE techniques have very good feasibility for the non-invasive liver fibrosis assessment and a good performance for predicting the presence of liver pathology. LS values obtained by Elast PQ technique are significant lower than those obtained by ARFI elastography.

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