Improvement of Shear Wave Motion Detection using Harmonic Imaging in Healthy Human Liver

摘要

Quantification of liver elasticity is a major application of shear wave elasticity imaging (SWEI) to non-invasively assess liver fibrosis stages. SWEI measurements can be highly affected by ultrasound image quality. Ultrasound harmonic imaging has shown a significant improvement in ultrasound image quality as well as for SWEI measurements. This has been previously demonstrated in cardiac SWEI. The purpose of this study was to evaluate liver shear wave particle displacement detection and shear wave velocity (SWV) measurements with fundamental and filter-based harmonic ultrasound imaging. In a cohort of 17 subjects with no history of liver disease, a 2.9 fold increase in maximum shear wave displacement, a 0.11 m/s decrease in the overall interquartile range and median of SWV, and a 17.6% increase in the success rate of SWV measurements were found when using filter-based harmonic imaging instead of fundamental imaging.