Shear wave elastography for judging testicular spermatogenesis / 中国医学影像技术

ABSTRACT

Objective: To explore whether shear wave elastography could be used to judge the severity of testicular spermatogenic damage. Methods: A total of 38 patients with azoospermia (azoospermia group) and 34 patients with oligospermia (oligospermia group) were included, while 33 normal semen subjects were selected as controls(control group). The differences of testicular volume (TV), testicular shear wave velocity (SWV) and SWV heterogeneity were compared among groups. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to evaluate the diagnostic efficiency of SWV and SWV heterogeneity. Results: TV in azoospermia group was significantly lower than that in the other 2 groups (both P0.05). No statistically significant difference of age was found among 3 groups. SWV and SWV heterogeneity in azoospermia group were both significantly higher than those in the other 2 groups (both P0.05). SWV of TV0.05). The ROC curve was established based on SWV and SWV heterogeneity values of azoospermia group and control group. Taken 1.73 m/s as the critical value of SWV, the AUC was 0.84, the sensitivity was 89.41%, and the specificity was 76.53%. When SWV heterogeneity was 1.54 m/s and AUC was 0.75, the sensitivity and specificity was 68.10% and 73.03%, respectively. Conclusion: Measuring the hardness of testicular tissue with SWV showed good clinical value in assessment of severely impaired testicular spermatogenesis.