The Accuracy of a Non-invasive Liver Fibrosis Evaluation Method, Shear Wave Elastography: A Retrospective Pilot Study

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy
of shear wave elastography（ SWE） for the assessment
of liver fibrosis in patients with liver disease.
Methods: A total of 54 consecutive patients who underwent
SWE measurement and liver biopsy were included.
Receiver-operator characteristic （ROC） curves
were constructed to calculate the area under the ROC
curve（ AUC） for F0-2 versus F3-4 and F0-3 versus F4.
Results: Fibrosis scores estimated by SWE were F0 for
9 cases, F1 for 18 cases, F2 for 11 cases, F3 for 9 cases,
and F4 for 7 cases. AUCs for severe fibrosis （F3 and
F4） and cirrhosis （F4） were 0.931 （P < 0.001） and
0.916 （P < 0.001）, respectively. Shear wave velocity
correlated significantly with liver fibrosis obtained by
liver biopsy（ r = 0.679, P < 0.001）.
Conclusion: SWE is a useful and non-invasive technology
to estimate liver fibrosis in liver disease regardless
of etiology.