Shear wave elastography and transient elastography in HCV patients after direct-acting antivirals.

Abstract

PURPOSE:

To compare the ultrasound (US) and pulse shear wave elastography (pSWE, Elast PQ®) methods with transient elastography (TE), clinical scores and laboratory tests, during the follow-up of HCV patients receiving direct-acting antiviral drugs (DAA).

METHODS:

Our prospective study from June 2016 to December 2017 included 22 consecutively enrolled HCV-positive patients (59.7 ± 12.3 years, 11 male) which were subjected to antiviral therapy. All patients underwent B-mode ultrasound, color-Doppler, pSWE and TE five times: before therapy (T0), at the end of therapy (post-Tx), and at 12, 24, 48 weeks post-therapy. The liver stiffness (LS) values obtained with pSWE and TE and the data coming from US assessment and clinical evaluation were compared.

RESULTS:

We obtained a statistically significant reduction of LS values (kPa) measured by pSWE, between T0 (14.3 ± 9.3), post-Tx (11.8 ± 10.5), 12 weeks (7.5 ± 3.3), 24 weeks (8 ± 3.8) and 48 weeks (8.5 ± 4.6) (p = 0.02). The reduction of kPa measured by TE was not significant between T0 (14.7 ± 9.3), post-Tx (12 ± 9.5), 12 weeks (11.6 ± 7.7), 24 weeks (10.3 ± 6) and 48 weeks (10.8 ± 7.5) (p > 0.05). Multivariate baseline analysis showed significant independent association among measurement of TE stiffness with cirrhosis, type of vein hepatic flow and showed significant independent association between delta-pSWE measurement (difference between stiffness measurements at the baseline and 12 months after treatment) with staging of fibrosis (p = 0.006) and sustained virologic response after 12 weeks of treatment (SVR12, p = 0.017).

CONCLUSION:

The pSWE method has shown better ability than TE to identify a reduction in LS. Therefore, pSWE allow to evaluate stiffness reduction in HCV patient during DAA treatment follow-up, which is related to SVR12.

• Authors: Giulio Argalia, Giuseppe Tarantino, Claudio Ventura, Daniele Campioni, Corrado Tagliati, Paola Guardati, Alba Kostandini, Marco Marzioni, Gian Marco Giuseppetti, Andrea Giovagnoni
• Journal: La Radiologia medica (Radiol Med) Vol. 126 Issue 6 Pg. 894-899 (Jun 2021) ISSN: 1826-6983 [Electronic] Italy
• PMID: 33492651 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Antiviral Agents

Topics

• Antiviral Agents (therapeutic use)
• Elasticity Imaging Techniques (methods)
• Female
• Follow-Up Studies
• Hepatitis C, Chronic (drug therapy, pathology)
• Humans
• Liver (pathology)
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Prospective Studies
• Reproducibility of Results