Publication
Palm-Sized Wireless Transient Elastography System with Real-Time B-Mode Ultrasound Imaging Guidance: Toward Point-of-Care Liver Fibrosis Assessment（2024）
Conventional TE requires wired connections, possesses a bulky size, and lacks adequate imaging guidance for precise liver localization. a palm-sized TE system that enables simultaneous B-mode imaging and LSM. This study was conducted to evaluate the reliability and validity of Liverscan in adults with various chronic liver diseases (CLDs) by comparing conventional TE and 2D-SWE.
Key Findings
·Good agreement was observed between the Young’s modulus reported by the phantom manufacturer and the Liverscan system (bias: 1.1-8.6%)
·LSM was demonstrated by small biases (range 1.1–8.6%) for eight reference phantoms a high correlation (r = 0.975) between liver stiffness measured by conventional TE-fs and Liverscan in 121 patients with varying degrees of fibrosis severity. Moreover, LSM by Liverscan provided high intra- and inter-operator agreement (ICC range 0.824–0.913).
·Correlation of the system with conventional TE and 2D-SWE was observed; procedural reliability was excellent to good in 60 patients (ICCs: 0.824-0.913)
Body posture can modulate liver stiffness measured by transient elastography: a prospective observational study（2024）
Non-invasive measurement of liver stiffness (LS), traditionally performed in the supine position, has been established to assess liver fibrosis. However, fibrosis degree is not the sole determinant of LS, necessitating the identification of relevant confounders. One often-overlooked factor is body posture, and it remains unclear whether normal daily postures interfere with LS irrespective of fibrosis. A prospective two-group comparison study was conducted to investigate the relationship between posture and LS.
Key Findings
·In 31 healthy individuals (baseline LS range: 3.5-6.8 kPa), a transition from the supine (5.0 ± 1.0 kPa) to seated (5.7 ± 1.4 kPa; p = 0.036) or standing (6.2 ± 1.7 kPa; p = 0.002) positions increased LS, indicating liver stiffening.
·Conversely, in 31 patients with varying fibrosis stages (baseline LS range: 8.8-38.2 kPa), posture decreased LS from the supine (15.9 ± 7.3 kPa) to seated (13.8 ± 6.2 kPa; p < 0.001) or standing (13.9 ± 6.2 kPa; p = 0.001) positions.
·No significant difference in LS was observed between the seated and standing positions in both groups (control group: 5.7 vs. 6.2 kPa, p = 0.305; patient group: 13.8 vs. 13.9 kPa, p = 1).
·Additionally, different postures did not elicit significant changes in the success rate (supine, 98.6 ± 4%; seated, 97.6 ± 6%; standing, 99.1 ± 3%; p = 0.258) and IQR/median value (supine, 25 ± 8%; seated, 29 ± 15%; standing, 29 ± 12%; p = 0.117), implying no impact on both measurement feasibility and reliability.