ABSTRACT
Objective:To analyze the viscosity characteristics of liver tumors and investigate the clinical value of shear wave dispersion (SWD) in the differentiation of benign and malignant liver tumors.Methods:A total of 103 patients with focal liver lesions were prospectively collected in Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University from October 2020 to July 2021, including 80 cases with single lesion and 23 cases with multiple lesions, and only the largest lesion was observed in patients with multiple lesions. SWD values were measured within the tumor and in the liver parenchyma 2 cm away from the tumor, and were compared between benign tumor group and maligant tumor group. The ROC curves of SWD value, SWD ratio and their combination in differentiating benign and malignant liver tumors were plotted respectively, and the optimal diagnostic threshold, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of different diagnostic methods were analyzed.Results:Among the 103 patients, 35 were benign and 68 were malignant. The SWD value of liver benign tumor group was lower than that of liver malignant tumor group [(16.38±3.58)m·s -1·kHz -1 vs (18.59±3.12)m·s -1·kHz -1], the SWD value of liver parenchyma background in liver benign tumor group was lower than that in liver malignant tumor group [(10.88±3.37)m·s -1·kHz -1 vs (14.31±3.34)m·s -1·kHz -1], and the differences were statistically significant (all P<0.05). The SWD ratio of benign tumor to surrounding liver parenchyma was higher than that of malignant tumor group [1.57(1.25, 2.00) vs 1.27(1.06, 1.57)], and the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.05). When the SWD value >15.60 m·s -1·kHz -1 was used as the cut-off value, the area under ROC curve (AUC) was 0.72, the sensitivity was 88.2%, the specificity was 51.4%, and the accuracy was 75.7%. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and AUC were 58.8%, 74.2%, 63.1%, and 0.68, respectively, when the ratio of SWD value<1.32 was used as the cut-off value. SWD value combined with SWD ratio for the diagnosis of liver malignant tumor, the AUC was 0.88, the sensitivity was 82.3%, the specificity was 83.0%, and accuracy was 81.6%. The diagnostic efficacy of the two in combination for liver malignant tumor was superior to SWD value ( Z=2.678, P=0.007 4) and SWD value ratio ( Z=3.822, P=0.000 1). Conclusions:SWD imaging can reflect the viscosity information of liver tumors and surrounding liver parenchyma, and has potential clinical application value in the differentiation of benign and malignant tumors.
ABSTRACT
Objective:To explore the diagnostic performance of ultrasound attenuation imaging (ATI) in grading the degree of hepatic steatosis in metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD).Methods:The liver gray-scale ultrasound and ATI examinations were performed on 212 subjects who were treated in Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University from August 2020 to March 2021. The attenuation coefficient(AC) values among different degrees of hepatic steatosis were analyzed and the diagnostic performance of ATI was evaluated. Relationships between AC values and clinical characteristics were assessed by Pearson′s correlation analysis.Results:The AC values for normal liver, mild, moderate and severe fatty liver were (0.56±0.05)dB·cm -1·MHz -1, (0.68±0.09)dB·cm -1·MHz -1, (0.82±0.09)dB·cm -1·MHz -1, (0.94±0.09)dB·cm -1·MHz -1, respectively. There were significant differences in AC values among different hepatic steatosis divisions( P<0.008). There was highly significant correlation between AC values and the degree of hepatic steatosis( r=0.860, P<0.01), moderate correlation between AC values and BMI( r=0.425, P<0.01), weak correlation between AC values and HDL-C( r=-0.237, P=0.029), no correlations between AC values and age, TC, TG, LDL-C ( r=0.083, 0.055, 0.133, -0.039, all P>0.05) .The areas under the receiver operating characteristics curve of ATI for mild fatty liver and above, moderate fatty liver and above, severe fatty liver and above were 0.958, 0.962, 0.918; the sensitivity were 90.1%, 95.8%, 94.9%, the specificity were 96.1%, 87.1%, 73.9%, and the cut-off values were 0.666 dB·cm -1·MHz -1, 0.719 dB·cm -1·MHz -1, 0.803 dB·cm -1·MHz -1, respectively. Conclusions:ATI is a reliable and convenient method for evaluating the degree of hepatic steatosis in MAFLD.