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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Radiol Imaging 2024; 34(04): 646-652
DOI: 10.1055/s-0044-1787668
Original Article

Evaluation of Hepatic Shear Wave Elastography to Assess Liver Fibrosis in Biliary Atresia Patients and Its Correlation with Liver Histology and Surgical Outcomes: A Prospective Observational Study

Md Fahim Ahmad 
1   Department of Pediatric Surgery, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
,
Shailesh Solanki 
1   Department of Pediatric Surgery, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
,
Ravi Prakash Kanojia
1   Department of Pediatric Surgery, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
,
Anmol Bhatia
2   Department of Radiodiagnosis, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
,
Sadhna B. Lal
3   Division of Pediatric, Department of Gastroenterology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
,
Akshay K. Saxena
2   Department of Radiodiagnosis, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
,
Kirti Gupta
4   Department of Histopathology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
› Author Affiliations
Funding None.
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Abstract

Introduction The native liver survival in biliary atresia (BA) depends on various factors, and one of the crucial factors is the rate of progression of liver fibrosis after portoenterostomy, but there is no reliable investigation to assess it. This study evaluated shear wave elastography (SWE) to detect liver fibrosis in BA patients and assess its utility during follow-up.

Materials and Methods This was an observational study; SWE was done preoperatively and postoperatively at 3 and 6 months. The SWE values were analyzed to determine their correlations with preoperative liver histology as well as with postoperative SWE variation between different postoperative outcomes.

Results Twenty-one patients were included in the study; the preoperative SWE values were strongly correlated with liver biopsy grading (p < 0.001). At the 3 months postoperatively, SWE was done for 18 children: 12 in group A (patent bilioenteric drainage on hepatobiliary iminodiacetic acid scan) and 6 (nonpatent) in group B; mean SWE value was 12.8 and 17.3 kPa, respectively (p < 0.001). Ten children from group A underwent SWE 6 months postoperatively, and the mean value was 13.23 kPa.

Conclusion The SWE values correlate with liver histology grading, suggesting a reliable alternative to biopsy. Additionally, the baseline SWE values and their trend during follow-up can provide information on the disease's progression.

Keywords

biliary atresia - shear wave elastography - liver biopsy - Kasai portoenterostomy - liver fibrosis

Authors' Contributions

S.S. and M.F.A. conceptualized the study and contributed to writing—original draft preparation; S.S., R.P.K, and S.B.L. did the methodological analysis; S.S. and S.B.L. validated the study; A.B., A.K.S., and K.G. performed the formal analysis; S.S. and R.P. K. contributed to writing—review and editing, and supervised the study. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.




Publication History

Article published online:
06 June 2024

© 2024. Indian Radiological Association. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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