Evaluation of Liver Fibrosis in Cirrhotic Patients: Comparison between Elastoso- nography and Fibroscan

Abstract

To date, there are still no clear data on the validity of Shear Waves Elastography (SWE) techniques in assessing liver fibrosis. Our study aimed to compare the stiffness liver values obtained with SWE techniques with Transient Elastography (TE) and to identify the threshold values for the different degrees of fibrosis. We enrolled 11 healthy subjects and 48 patients with chronic liver disease. They all performed TE, 33 patients and healthy subjects were evaluated withPoint SWE and 15 patients with 2D-SWE. The differences between techniques and TE, evaluated with student’s t-test, were not statistically significant (p>0,05). The cut-offs of SWE technique were for F≥2 6,2 kPa; F≥3 7,65 kPa; F=4 13 kPa. SWE techniques have good potential in assessing liver fibrosis; moreover, being elastosonography quick and easy to perform, it could be integrated into the clinical practice of the ultrasound examination.