Quantitative Shear Elasticity Assessment of Liver Fibrosis in Rat Model with Shear Wave Elastography Base on Acoustic Radiation Force

Shear wave elstography based on acoustic radiation force is used for quantitative assessment of liver fibrosis in a rat model. The results show that the mean shear elasticity increases with the stage of liver fibrosis. The range of mean shear elasticity for all liver fibrosis stages is 1.25-3.17 kPa. The 95% confidence intervals of mean shear elasticity are overlapping for F1, F2, F3 and F4 stage. The results of ANOVA suggest that shear elasticity has significance difference between F0, F1 stage and F2, F3, F4 stage (P<;0.02), while shear elasticity has no significance between F0 and F1 stage (P=0.128), between F2, F3 and F4 stage (P>0.23). The AUC values of ROC curve of shear elasticity at METAVIR score threshold are 0.98 (≥F1), 0.95 (≥F2), 0.83(≥F3) and 0.83 (≥F4) respectively. The results suggest that shear wave elastography base on acoustic radiation force can be used potentially for early diagnosis and study of liver fibrosis.