Kidney Shear Wave Speed Values in Subjects with and without Renal Pathology and Inter-Operator Reproducibility of Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse Elastography (ARFI) - Preliminary Results

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 9; no. 11; p. e113761
• Main Authors: Bob, Flaviu, Bota, Simona, Sporea, Ioan, Sirli, Roxana, Petrica, Ligia, Schiller, Adalbert
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 26.11.2014; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Abdomen; Acoustic properties; Acoustics; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Biopsy; Body weight; Case depth; Comparative analysis; Correlation coefficient; Correlation coefficients; Elasticity Imaging Techniques; Feasibility studies; Female; Gastroenterology; Hepatology; Hospitalization; Hospitals; Humans; Kidney - diagnostic imaging; Kidney - pathology; Kidney diseases; Kidney Diseases - diagnostic imaging; Kidney Diseases - pathology; Kidney transplantation; Kidneys; Liver diseases; Male; Medicine; Medicine and Health Sciences; Middle Aged; Nephrology; Overweight; Pathology; Pharmacy; Pilot Projects; Prospective Studies; Radiation; Radiation (Physics); Reproducibility; Reproducibility of Results; Shear; Skin; Sound waves; Thyroid gland; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0113761

to assess the inter-operator reproducibility of kidney shear wave speed, evaluated by means of Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse (ARFI) elastography, and the factors which influence it. Our prospective pilot study included 107 subjects with or without kidney pathology in which kidney shear wave speed was evaluated by means of ARFI elastography. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to assess ARFI elastography reproducibility. A strong agreement was obtained between kidney shear wave speed measurements obtained by the two operators: ICC = 0.71 (right kidney) and 0.69 (left kidney). Smaller ICCs were obtained in "healthy subjects", as compared to patients with kidney diseases (0.68 vs. 0.75), in women as compared with men (0.59 vs. 0.78), in subjects younger than 50 years as compared with those aged at least 50 years (0.63 vs. 0.71), in obese as compared with normal weight and overweight subjects (0.36 vs. 0.66 and 0.78) and in case of measurements depth <4 cm or >6 cm as compared with those performed at a depth of 4-6 cm from the skin (0.32 and 0.60 vs. 0.81). ARFI elastography is a reproducible method for kidney shear wave speed assessment.