Clinical practice of the transrectal shear-wave elastography in benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Objective: To investigate the practical value of the transrectal two-dimensional shear-wave elastography (SWE) in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

Methods: Consecutive male participants with and without BPH constituted the BPH and control group respectively were enrolled prospectively between March and December 2022. Transrectal conventional ultrasound and SWE examinations for the prostate were performed on these participants. Data of quantitative stiffness of the transitional zone (TZ) and peripheral zone (PZ) of prostate, volume of prostate (VP) and volume of TZ (VTZ) and prostate specific androgen (PSA), etc., were collected. Linear regression analyses were used to investigate the associations between quantitative stiffness data and other clinical parameters.

Results: There were 200 participants evaluated, including 100 healthy participants and 100 BPH patients. For every one-year increment in age, it was correlated with 0.50 kPa increasement of TZ stiffness. VP and VTZ were correlated with TZ stiffness. Higher TZ stiffness was associated with higher free prostate specific antigen (PSA) and total PSA.

Conclusions: The prostate is stiffer and larger in BPH group compared to control group. Quantitative stiffness of the TZ was related with age, VP, VTZ and PSA.