2020/09/10 by Sedigheh S. Poul, Poul, Sedigheh S., Kevin J. Parker +1
Medicine · Engineering · #Ultrasound Imaging and Elastography #Liver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment #Ultrasound and Hyperthermia Applications
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2009.04895
Elastography provides significant information on staging of fibrosis in\npatients with liver disease and may be of some value in assessing steatosis.\nHowever, there remain questions as to the role of steatosis and fibrosis as\ncofactors influencing the viscoelastic measurements of the liver tissues,\nparticularly shear wave speed (SWS) and shear wave attenuation (SWA). In this\nstudy, by employing the theory of composite elastic media as well as two\nindependent experimental measurements on fat-in-gelatin phantoms and also\nfinite element simulations, it is consistently shown that fat and fibrosis\njointly influence the SWS and SWA measurements. At a constant level of fat,\nfibrosis stages can influence the SWA by factors of 2-4. Moreover, the rate of\nincrease in SWA with increasing fat is strongly influenced by the stages of\nfibrosis; softer background cases (low fibrosis stages) have higher rate of SWA\nincrease with fat than those with stiffer moduli (higher fibrosis stages).\nMeanwhile, SWS results are influenced by the presence of fat, however the\ndegree of variability is more subtle. The results indicate the importance of\njointly considering fat and fibrosis as contributors to SWS and SWA\nmeasurements in complex liver tissues and in the design and interpretation of\nclinical trials.\n