ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the application value of virtual touch tissue quantification (VTQ) technique in staging of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Methods VTQ examination was performed on a random sample of 96 CKD patients at different clinical stages and 45 healthy volunteers (control group). Shear wave velocity (SWV) of renal parenchyma was measured and compared. Correlation between SWV and clinical stage and glomeru-lar filtration rate (GFR) of CKD patients was analyzed. Results The SWV value of renal parenchyma decreased gradually, along with the progression of CKD disease and impairment of renal function. There was no significant difference(P>0.05)between the control group and the CKD1 group ( P=0.061), the CKD2 group and the CKD3 group (P = 0.238), and the CKD4 group and the CKD5 group (P = 0.624). The difference of SWV between the remaining groups was statistically significant(P < 0.05). SWV of renal parenchyma was negatively correlated with CKD stage (r =-0.65, P < 0.001), which means the higher the stage of CKD was associated with the lower the SWV. SWV was positively correlated with GFR (r = 0.73, P < 0.001), which means the lower the GFR was related to the lower the SWV. Conclusion VTQ technique can noninvasively reflect the changes of renal parenchyma elas-ticity and evaluate the impairment of renal function in CKD patients. It can provide a new quantitative evaluation index for the clinical staging of CKD.