• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• 제48권3호
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• pp.161-165
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• 2018

Purpose: To evaluate the usefulness of shear wave elastography in the diagnosis of oral and maxillofacial diseases. Materials and Methods: Ten patients with oral and maxillofacial diseases and 28 volunteers drawn from our student doctors were examined by shear wave elastography with a 14-MHz linear transducer using an Aplio 300 apparatus (Canon Medical Systems, Otawara, Japan). A statistical analysis of the shear elastic modulus(kPa) of healthy tissue (the sublingual gland, submandibular gland, anterior belly of the digastric muscle, and geniohyoid muscle) in the 28 volunteers was performed using 1-way repeated measures analysis of variance with the Tukey honest significant difference test. The maximum shear elastic modulus(kPa) of 8 patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and 2 patients with benign lesions was evaluated with the Mann-Whitney U test. The analysis used a 5% significance level. Results: The mean shear elastic modulus of the sublingual gland ($9.4{\pm}3.7kPa$) was lower than that of the geniohyoid muscle ($19.2{\pm}9.2kPa$, P=.000) and the anterior belly of the digastric muscle ($15.3{\pm}6.1kPa$, P=.004). The maximum shear elastic modulus of the SCCs($109.6{\pm}14.4kPa$) was higher than that of the benign lesions($46.4{\pm}26.8kPa$, P=.044). Conclusion: Our results demonstrated the usefulness of shear wave elastography in the diagnosis of oral and maxillofacial diseases. Shear wave elastography has the potential to be an effective technique for the objective and quantitative diagnosis of oral and maxillofacial diseases.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• 제17권7호
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• pp.1057-1065
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• 2023

Non-invasive liver fibrosis diagnosis is crucial for patients with chronic liver diseases. Many patients cannot undergo liver tissue biopsy, so predicting the degree of liver fibrosis early through meaningful methods can reduce complications related to chronic liver diseases, such as liver cell carcinoma and cirrhosis. This study compared and analyzed the quantitative measurement of liver fibrosis using shear wave elastography in conjunction with liver ultrasound findings and their associations with serum biomarkers (p<0.05). The results showed that the shear wave elastography measurement in the normal group was 4.55 ± 0.69 kPa, while the abnormal contrast group with echogenic patterns had a measurement of 8.27 ± 1.83 kPa. The hepatitis B carrier group exhibited higher shear wave elastography measurements, and among serum biomarkers, AST, ALT, GGT, and PT showed statistically significant positive correlations with fibrosis severity according to SWE categories (p<0.05), while ALP and TB did not demonstrate statistically significant differences (p=0.163, p=0.567). Conversely, Albumin and PLT showed significant negative correlations (p<0.05). Clinically, utilizing shear wave elastography measurements through liver ultrasound in the tracking and repeat testing of liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B patients without cirrhosis can assist in achieving more objective diagnoses among healthcare providers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• 제17권6호
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• pp.919-927
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• 2023

Elastography utilizes the fact that the tissue of a malignant tumor is harder than that of a benign tumor and increases the specificity of diagnosis according to the elastic modulus of the tumor, helping to reduce unnecessary biopsies. However, the reliability of elastography can be influenced by the equipment used and the examiner's skills. In this study, the researchers analyzed the reproducibility of elastography by evaluating phantom images when measuring the elasticity values repeatedly. Phantoms were created using silicone and gelatin with different levels of stiffness, and they were inserted at varying depths from the surface. The elasticity values were measured using shear wave elastography. The study aimed to determine whether the reproducibility of elasticity values remains consistent depending on the stiffness and depth of the lesions. The experimental results showed that there was no statistically significant correlation between the elasticity values obtained through shear wave elastography and the depth or stiffness of the lesions. However, in the lesions with the lowest stiffness, the elasticity values were statistically significant (p<0.001) and showed a high correlation with the depth of the lesions. Although there were variations in the measured elasticity values based on the differences in lesion stiffness and depth, these differences did not significantly impact the diagnosis. Therefore, shear wave elastography remains a reliable diagnostic method, and it is suggested that it can be helpful in the diagnosis of breast lesions.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• 제22권1호
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• pp.3.1-3.13
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• 2021

Background: Multifidus muscle stiffness decreases in patients with lumbar intervertebral disk herniation; however, age-related changes in humans have not been reported. Objectives: The reliability of ultrasound shear wave elastography in dogs, and changes in the shear elastic modulus of the thoracolumbar multifidus muscle with aging in dogs, were investigated. Methods: Twelve beagle dogs were divided into 2 groups based on the age of onset of intervertebral disk herniation: young (aged not exceeding 2 years; 1.3 ± 0.6 years old, n = 5) and adult (4.9 ± 1.2 years old, n = 7). The shear elastic modulus of the multifidus muscle, from the thirteenth thoracic spine to the fourth lumbar spine, was measured using ultrasound shear wave elastography. The length, cross-sectional area and muscle to fat ratio of the multifidus muscle, and the grade of intervertebral disk degeneration, were assessed using radiographic and magnetic resonance imaging examinations. Results: The length and cross-sectional area of the multifidus muscle increased caudally. In the young group, the shear elastic modulus of the multifidus muscle of the thirteenth thoracic spine was less than that of the third lumbar spine. In the adult group, the shear elastic modulus of the multifidus muscle of first and third lumbar spine was lower than that of the same site in the young group. Conclusions: Ultrasound can be used to measure shear wave elastography of the thoracolumbar multifidus in dogs. If the multifidus muscle stiffness decreases, we should consider age-related change.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• 제33권1호
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• pp.32-38
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• 2012

Recently, several ultrasound imaging techniques for tissue characterization have been developed. Among them, ultrasound elastography is regarded as the most promising modality and has been rapidly developed. One of ultrasound elastography techniques is shear modulus imaging. Normal and cancerous tissues show big difference of shear moduli and they have good image contrast. However shear wave elastography requires more complicated hardware and more computations for image reconstruction algorithm. Therefore new efficient techniques are being developed. In this paper, we have developed a very flexible ultrasound system for elastography experiments. The developed system has capabilities to acquire ultrasound RF data of all channels and generate arbitrary ultrasound pulse sequences. It has a huge amount of memories for RF data acquisition and a simple and flexible pulse generator. We have verified the performance of the system showing conventional B-mode images and preliminary results of elastography. The developed system will be used to verify our own reconstruction algorithm and to develop more efficient elastography techniques.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• 제45권4호
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• pp.341-346
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• 2022

The color overlay pattern of thyroid shear wave elastography applied in this study distinguishes benign and malignant nodules based on the optimal cut-off value of 74.2 kPa. From august 2021 to september 2021, thyroid ultrasound and elastography were performed on 57 patients with thyroid lesions using an ultrasound device RS85 prestige (Samsung Medison, Korea) and a 2-14 MHz linear transducer. In addition, the results of classification by K-TIRADS for each thyroid nodule and the results of classification by color overlay pattern according to the kPa value of acoustic ultrasound were compared and analyzed. In the color overlay pattern, the results classified as 40 people from dark blue to light blue and 17 people from green to red were similar to the K-TIRADS category results, which were classified as 42 benign and 15 malignant. Between blue and light blue, benign, and between green and red, malignant. If the shear wave elastography method is applied before the fine-needle aspiration cytology of the thyroid nodule is performed, the differential diagnosis of thyroid tissue from benign and malignant can be predicted in advance, and it will help to reduce unnecessary invasive tests.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• 제15권6호
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• pp.883-889
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• 2021

This study was conducted on 101 patients who visited hospital for abdominal ultrasonography from May 2020 to December 2020. The purpose of this study was to find out the elasticity according to the ultrasound images (echo pattern, splenomegaly, hepatitis) during the ultrasound examination using the shear wave elastography. The shear wave elastography value of the normal group of the echo pattern was 5.75±1.58 kPa, and the group with the abnormal echo pattern was 8.84±4.94 kPa, and the shear wave elastography value of the abnormal group was high (p<0.05). In normal spleen size, hepatic elasticity value was 6.33±2.54 kPa, and hepatic elasticity value of splenomegaly was 13.73±5.48 kPa. In the case of splenomegaly, the liver elasticity value was high, and there was a statistically significant difference (p<0.05). As the spleen size increased, the liver elasticity value increased by 1.485 times, and as hepatitis progressed, the liver elasticity value increased by 1.573 times (p<0.05). As a result of analysis of concordance between ultrasound imaging findings and shear wave elastography, the Kappa value was found to be as high as 0.922 (p<0.05), which showed high concordance between the two test methods. Additional comparisons of liver elasticity values in shearwave elastography tests along with liver ultrasound findings are thought to be of great help in diagnosing liver fibrosis.

• Clinical Endoscopy
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• 제56권2호
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• pp.229-238
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• 2023

Background/Aims: Shear wave elastography (SWE) is used for liver fibrosis staging based on stiffness measurements. It can be performed using endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) or a transabdominal approach. Transabdominal accuracy can be limited in patients with obesity because of the thick abdomen. Theoretically, EUS-SWE overcomes this limitation by internally assessing the liver. We aimed to define the optimal technique for EUS-SWE for future research and clinical use and compare its accuracy with that of transabdominal SWE. Methods: Benchtop study: A standardized phantom model was used. The compared variables included the region of interest (ROI) size, depth, and orientation and transducer pressure. Porcine study: Phantom models with varying stiffness values were surgically implanted between the hepatic lobes. Results: For EUS-SWE, a larger ROI size of 1.5 cm and a smaller ROI depth of 1 cm demonstrated a significantly higher accuracy. For transabdominal SWE, the ROI size was nonadjustable, and the optimal ROI depth ranged from 2 to 4 cm. The transducer pressure and ROI orientation did not significantly affect the accuracy. There were no significant differences in the accuracy between transabdominal SWE and EUS-SWE in the animal model. The variability among the operators was more pronounced for the higher stiffness values. Small lesion measurements were accurate only when the ROI was entirely situated within the lesion. Conclusions: We defined the optimal viewing windows for EUS-SWE and transabdominal SWE. The accuracy was comparable in the non-obese porcine model. EUS-SWE may have a higher utility for evaluating small lesions than transabdominal SWE.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• 제22권3호
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• pp.282-290
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• 2019

Characterizing inflammation and fibrosis in Crohn's disease (CD) is necessary to guide clinical management, but distinguishing the two remains challenging. Novel ultrasound (US) techniques: contrast-enhanced US (CEUS) and shear wave elastography (SWE) offer great potential in evaluating disease activity in pediatric patients. Three patients ages 16 to 20 with known CD underwent CEUS and SWE to characterize bowel wall inflammation and fibrosis. Magnetic resonance enterography, endoscopy, or surgical pathology findings are also described when available. The patients' disease activity included acute inflammation, chronic inflammation with stricture formation, and a fibrotic surgical anastomosis without inflammation. CEUS was useful in determining the degree of inflammation, and SWE identified bowel wall fibrosis. Used together these techniques allow for better characterization of the degree of fibrosis and inflammation in bowel strictures. With further validation CEUS and SWE may allow for improved characterization of bowel strictures and disease flares in pediatric patients suffering from CD.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• 제24권6호
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• pp.75.1-75.8
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• 2023

Background: In veterinary medicine, previous studies regarding the diagnostic performance of shear wave elastography (SWE) in chronic kidney disease (CKD) are not consistent with each other. Moreover, there has been no study evaluating the relationship between symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) concentration and renal shear wave velocity (SWV) using two-dimensional SWE (2D SWE) in dogs with CKD. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic capability of 2D SWE in dogs with CKD and to assess the relationship between renal SWV and SDMA concentration. Methods: Dogs with healthy kidneys and dogs with CKD underwent 2D SWE and SDMA assay. Renal stiffness was estimated as renal SWV in m/s. Results: SDMA concentration had a weak positive correlation with the left (r = 0.338, p = 0.022) and right renal SWV (r = 0.337, p = 0.044). Renal SWV was not significantly different between healthy kidney and CKD groups in the left (p = 0.085) and right (p = 0.171) kidneys. Conclusions: 2D SWE may could not distinguish between dogs with healthy kidney and dogs with early stage of CKD, but it would be useful for assessing the serial change of renal function in dogs.