Liver Stiffness: A Significant Relationship with the Waveform Pattern in the Hepatic Vein

Tadashi Sekimoto; Hitoshi Maruyama; Soichiro Kiyono; Takayuki Kondo; Taro Shimada; Masanori Takahashi; Osamu Yokosuka; Tadashi Yamaguchi

doi:10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2015.03.002

Liver Stiffness: A Significant Relationship with the Waveform Pattern in the Hepatic Vein

Ultrasound Med Biol. 2015 Jul;41(7):1801-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2015.03.002. Epub 2015 Apr 6.

Authors

Tadashi Sekimoto¹, Hitoshi Maruyama², Soichiro Kiyono¹, Takayuki Kondo¹, Taro Shimada¹, Masanori Takahashi¹, Osamu Yokosuka¹, Tadashi Yamaguchi³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Gastroenterology and Nephrology, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Chuou-ku, Chiba, Japan.
² Department of Gastroenterology and Nephrology, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Chuou-ku, Chiba, Japan. Electronic address: maru-cib@umin.ac.jp.
³ Department of Research Center for Frontier Medical Engineering, Chiba University, Inage-ku, Chiba, Japan.

PMID: 25858000
DOI: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2015.03.002

Abstract

The aim of this prospective study was to assess the relationship between liver stiffness and hepatic vein waveform patterns in 42 patients with chronic hepatitis and 55 with cirrhosis. Liver stiffness measurement (LSM) values (FibroScan, Echosens, Paris, France) were significantly lower in the triphasic pattern group (11.3 ± 8.4 kPa) than in the monophasic pattern (32.5 ± 23.5 kPa, p = 0.001) and biphasic pattern (25.6 ± 18.1 kPa, p = 0.001) groups, indicating no significant relationship with portal pressure. The ability to diagnose cirrhosis represented by the highest area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.921 (83.6% sensitivity, 90.5% specificity, best cutoff value: 16.9 kPa) by LSM and 1.000 (best cutoff value: 19.4 kPa) by LSM combined with the monophasic pattern. This study revealed a close linkage between liver stiffness and hepatic vein waveform findings, resulting in a better understanding of hepatic vein hemodynamics and wider application of its analysis.

Keywords: Cirrhosis; Hepatic vein waveform; Liver stiffness; Portal hypertension.

MeSH terms

Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Elastic Modulus
Elasticity Imaging Techniques / methods
End Stage Liver Disease / diagnostic imaging*
End Stage Liver Disease / physiopathology*
Female
Hepatic Veins / diagnostic imaging*
Hepatic Veins / physiopathology*
Humans
Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / methods
Liver / diagnostic imaging
Liver / physiopathology*
Liver Circulation
Male
Middle Aged
Reproducibility of Results
Sensitivity and Specificity
Ultrasonography, Doppler / methods*