Affiliations: [a] Department of Radiology, the Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, China
| [b] Biomedical and Information Engineering School, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China
| [c] Department of Medical Insurance, the Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, China
| [d] Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Texas, El Paso, TX, USA
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author: Pinggui Lei, Department of Radiology, the Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University. No.28, Guiyi Street, Yunyan District, Guiyang of Guizhou550004, China. Tel.: +86 187 8611 8165; Fax: +86 851 86855119; E-mail: pingguilei@foxmail.com.
Note: [1] Equal contributors
Abstract: OBJECTIVE:This study aims to assess the value of ultrasound real-time shear wave elastography (US-SWE) for evaluation of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in a rabbit model compared with multislice computed tomography (MSCT). MATERIAL AND METHODS:Twenty-six rabbits were fed with high-fat, high-cholesterol diet and six rabbits were fed with a standard diet. All rabbits were performed with MSCT and US-SWE at various time points to measure changes in liver parenchyma. The diagnostic efficiency of US-SWE was analyzed using receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves compared with MSCT based on the liver pathology. RESULTS:The statistically significant differences in the areas under the ROC curves between using MSCT and US-SWE modalities were detected to discriminate between normal vs. NAFLD or higher severity pathology. Similarly, for normal or NAFLD vs. borderline or NASH livers, statistically significant differences between using US-SWE and MSCT modalities were also detected for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) vs. lower severity pathology. CONCLUSIONS:MSCT, but not US-SWE, had a better ability to differentiate normal or NAFLD livers from higher severity NAFLD livers. However, the diagnostic efficiency of US-SWE was superior to that of MSCT for differentiating NASH from normal or lower severity NAFLD.
