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Clinical study of the value of shear wave elastography in evaluating the degree of liver fibrosis in children

  • Hepatobiliary
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Abdominal Radiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objectives

To explore the clinical application of shear wave elastography (SWE) in evaluating the degree of liver fibrosis in children.

Methods

To explore the value of SWE in assessing liver fibrosis in children, the correlation between elastography values and the METAVIR grade of liver fibrosis in children with biliary system or liver diseases was studied. Children with significant liver enlargement were enrolled, and the fibrosis grade was analyzed to explore the value of SWE in assessing the degree of liver fibrosis in the presence of significant liver enlargement.

Results

A total of 160 children with bile system or liver diseases were recruited. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROCs) for liver biopsy from stage F1 to F4 were 0.990, 0.923, 0.819, and 0.884. According to the degree of liver fibrosis at liver biopsy, there was a high correlation between the SWE value and the degree of liver fibrosis (correlation coefficient 0.74). There was no significant correlation between the Young's modulus value of the liver and the degree of liver fibrosis (correlation coefficient 0.16).

Conclusions

Supersonic SWE can generally accurately evaluate the degree of liver fibrosis in children with liver disease. However, When the liver is significantly enlarged, SWE can only evaluate liver stiffness based on Young's modulus values, and the degree of liver fibrosis must still be determined by pathologic biopsy.

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Funding

There was no funding support for this research.

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Author notes

  1. Yang Gao and Lirong Zhu have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ultrasound, Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, P.R. China

    Yang Gao, Lirong Zhu, Huan Xiao, Chunjiang Yang, Juan Xu, Fangting Mou & Yi Tang

  2. National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorders, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Chongqing, 400014, P.R. China

    Yang Gao, Lirong Zhu, Huan Xiao, Chunjiang Yang, Juan Xu, Fangting Mou & Yi Tang

  3. Chongqing Key Laboratory of Pediatrics, Chongqing Engineering Research Center of Stem Cell Therapy, Chongqing, 400014, P.R. China

    Yang Gao, Lirong Zhu, Huan Xiao, Chunjiang Yang, Juan Xu, Fangting Mou & Yi Tang

Authors
  1. Yang Gao
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  2. Lirong Zhu
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  3. Huan Xiao
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  4. Chunjiang Yang
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  5. Juan Xu
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  7. Yi Tang
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Huan Xiao or Yi Tang.

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The authors declare that there are no conflict of interests, we do not have any possible conflicts of interest.

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The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Children's Hospital Affiliated to Chongqing Medical University.

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Gao, Y., Zhu, L., Xiao, H. et al. Clinical study of the value of shear wave elastography in evaluating the degree of liver fibrosis in children. Abdom Radiol 48, 1298–1305 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00261-023-03837-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00261-023-03837-w

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