The relationship of spleen stiffness value measured by shear wave elastography with age, gender, and spleen size in healthy volunteers.

PURPOSE

The aim of this study is to evaluate spleen stiffness values with shear wave elastography (SWE) quantitatively in healthy adults and investigate the relationship of spleen stiffness with age, gender, and spleen size.

METHODS

This study included 65 healthy individuals. Spleen stiffness measurement was obtained with 2 dimensional (2-D) SWE method from the middle portion of spleen and calculated in kilopascals by taking the average of three valid measurements. Longitudinal and transverse spleen sizes were measured. The relationship of spleen stiffness with age, gender, and spleen size was investigated. The association between spleen size and age and gender was also evaluated.

RESULTS

The mean spleen stiffness value was 13.82 ± 2.91 kPa, and the spleen stiffness was not affected by age, gender, or spleen size. Longitudinal spleen size was significantly lower in females than that in males. Moreover, there was a significant negative correlation between longitudinal spleen size and age (r = 0.247, p = 0.048).

CONCLUSION

Spleen stiffness can be quantitatively measured by 2-D SWE, and the spleen stiffness is not affected by age, gender, and spleen size. The values obtained in this study can be used as normal base values in examination of different spleen pathologies.