Affiliations: [a] Department of Medical Ultrasonics, Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Ultrasound, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China
| [b] Organ Transplant Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Yan Wang, MD, Department of Medical Ultrasonics, Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Ultrasound, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, No. 58 Zhongshan Road 2, Guangzhou, 510080, China. E-mail: [email protected].
Note: [1] These authors contributed equally to this paper and should be considered co-first authors.
Abstract: OBJECTIVES:To investigate the influencing factors of the image quality of shear wave elastography (SWE) performed using a high-frequency probe and its reproducibility for renal allografts. METHODS:A total of 211 patients with transplanted kidneys who underwent SWE examination performed using high-frequency or low-frequency probes were recruited for the study. The reproducibility of inter- and intraobserver agreements were analysed by using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). According to the colour filling of the area of interest and imaging noise when conducting SWE, the image quality was classified as three grades: “good”, “common”, and “poor”. A logistic regression was used to analyse the independent factors for SWE quality. RESULTS:In the comparative analysis, high frequency, transection measurement and middle pole were selected as the appropriate measurement methods. Regarding reproducibility, the ICCs) of the intra- and interobserver agreements were 0.85 and 0.77, respectively. Multivariate analysis indicated that only the skin allograft distance and kidney width were independent variables for SWE quality. In the subgroup analysis of the skin-allograft distance, the “good” and “common” rates of images decreased as the distance increased, but the CV (coefficients of variation) showed the opposite trend. The SWE quality of kidney width <5.4 cm was significantly better than that of kidney width ≥5.4 cm. CONCLUSIONS:High-frequency SWE can be used in the evaluation of transplanted kidneys due to its good repeatability and high successful measurement rate, but we should pay attention to the influence of the skin-allograft distance and kidney width on SWE quality.
