Fig 1.
Axial magnitude image of the liver and corresponding elastogram. ROI for the segmentation of the liver contour (blue) and ROI with a cutoff of 1 m/s (red). Upper row: Healthy volunteer No. 5 with an average SWS of 1.30 ± 0.17 m/s. Bottom row: Patient No. 11. The brighter color in the elastogram indicates an increased SWS of 1.72 ± 0.30 m/s.
Fig 2.
Image of a healthy volunteer. In the B-mode image, a rectangular ROI is placed in a homogeneous area in liver segment VI.
Fig 3.
Images of patient No. 6 with stiffness color map (left) and shear waves (right). A round ROI is placed in liver segment VI in an area of homogeneous color (left) showing an increased SWS of 3.13 ± 0.22 m/s (9.80 ± 1.40 kPa).
Table 1.
Reference values.
Fig 4.
Plot of SWS determined with all three methods in all patients. Additionally, the reference value for stage F2 fibrosis is shown for ARFI quantification and 2D-SWE.
Table 2.
Compilation of results obtained in all patients and healthy volunteers.
Fig 5.
a)-c) Linear correlation of MRE, ARFI quantification, and 2D-SWE in patients (●). All P-values ≤ 0.0089. Patients with the highest SWS are indicated by numbers: patient Nos. 3, 6, 10, and 11. Based on USE reference values, these patients have fibrosis ranging from F2 to F4 [20,21]. a) Additionally, correlation of ARFI quantification/MRE is shown for healthy volunteers (ᴏ). c) Patient No. 4 without MRE data is indicated by (△).
Table 3.
Parameter correlation.