Acoustic Structure Quantification Versus Point Shear Wave Speed Measurement for the Assessment of Liver Fibrosis in Viral Hepatitis B.

This study was conducted to evaluate the value of acoustic structure quantification (ASQ) technology versus that of point shear wave speed measurement (PSWSM) imaging technology for the assessment of liver fibrosis stage. A total of 104 patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and 30 healthy control patients underwent ASQ and PSWSM examinations. Seven quantitative parameters were obtained from ASQ, and a principal component analysis was used to establish the integrative indicators. A quantitative parameter, known as the shear wave speed (SWS, m/s), was obtained from the PSWSM. The METAVIR scores for the assessment of pathologic liver fibrosis were used as a benchmark. Liver fibrosis stages exhibited a good correlation with the integrative indicators and SWS (r = 0.682, p <0.001; r = 0.651, p <0.001). The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves for ASQ and PSWSM were 0.705 and 0.854 for mild liver fibrosis (F ≥ 1, p = 0.045), 0.813 and 0.743 for significant liver fibrosis (F ≥ 2, p = 0.115), 0.839 and 0.857 for severe liver fibrosis (F ≥ 3, p = 0.417) and 0.874 and 0.971 for liver cirrhosis (F = 4, p = 0.016), respectively. In conclusion, both ASQ and PSWSM were promising ultrasonic methods for assessing liver fibrosis in patients with CHB; however, PSWSM was more valuable for identifying mild liver fibrosis (F ≥ 1) and cirrhosis (F = 4) than ASQ, and the combination of PSWSM and ASQ improved the accuracy of diagnosing severe liver fibrosis (F ≥ 3).