Adamczewski Zbigniew, Stasiak Magdalena, Stasiak Bartłomiej, Adamczewska Magdalena, Lewiński Andrzej
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, Polish Mother's Memorial Hospital Research Institute, 93-338 Lodz, Poland.
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, Medical University of Lodz, 93-338 Lodz, Poland.
J Clin Med. 2021 Jan 9;10(2):214. doi: 10.3390/jcm10020214.
Shear wave elastography (SWE) has been demonstrated to be a useful tool in the differential diagnosis of ectopic thymus tissues (ETs), providing quantitative values of the shear wave stiffness (SWS) of both ETs and adjacent thyroid tissue. However, no data are available on the potential influence of the imaging plane (transverse vs. longitudinal) on the obtained SWS and shear wave ratio (SWR) values in SWE of these tissues. Moreover, no reports on the interobserver repeatability of SWE were published in regard to ETs. The aim of this study has been to evaluate the potential influence of the examination plane-transverse vs. longitudinal-on the SWS and SWR results, as well as to determine whether SWE of ETs is subjected to interobserver variability. SWE was demonstrated to have high inter- and intraobserver agreement in the evaluation of ETs and adjacent thyroid tissue. Significant differences between SWS values, but not SWR values, obtained in the transverse and longitudinal planes were observed. This phenomenon is probably a result of anisotropy-related artifacts and does not reduce the reliability of the method. SWE operators should be aware of the presence of plane-dependent artifacts to properly interpret the obtained results.
剪切波弹性成像（SWE）已被证明是鉴别异位胸腺组织（ET）的一种有用工具，可提供ET及相邻甲状腺组织的剪切波硬度（SWS）定量值。然而，关于成像平面（横向与纵向）对这些组织SWE中获得的SWS和剪切波比（SWR）值的潜在影响，尚无相关数据。此外，关于ET的SWE观察者间重复性，也没有相关报道。本研究的目的是评估检查平面（横向与纵向）对SWS和SWR结果的潜在影响，以及确定ET的SWE是否存在观察者间差异。结果表明，SWE在评估ET及相邻甲状腺组织时具有较高的观察者间和观察者内一致性。观察到横向和纵向平面获得的SWS值存在显著差异，但SWR值无显著差异。这种现象可能是与各向异性相关伪像的结果，并不降低该方法的可靠性。SWE操作者应意识到平面相关伪像的存在，以便正确解释所获得的结果。
