Preliminary clinical experience with shear wave dispersion (SWD) imaging of the liver

The effect of water intake on ultrasound tissue characteristics and hemodynamics of adult livers

“…Linear regression showed weak and/or non-significant correlations of SWD and ATI with PVV, PSV, and EDV. While SWD and ATI are often used in conjunction with SWV to assess pathologic changes in the liver, SWD is known to be a better measure of tissue viscosity [ 9 , 16 ], and ATI is known as a better measure of steatosis [ 17 , 18 ]. In the study, we did not observe significant alterations of SWD or ATI following hemodynamic changes induced by water intake in the normal young adult liver compared to SWV.…”

“…A high value of SWV represents a stiff tissue whereas a low value of SWV represents a soft tissue [ 2 , 3 ]. SWD (m/s/kHz), on the other hand, assesses the dispersion slope of the shear wave speed that is dependent on shear wave frequency [ 15 , 16 ]. SWD is primarily related to the viscosity of the liver and has been shown to be a more accurate measurement of liver inflammation than SWV [ 9 ].…”

The Non-Invasive Ultrasound-Based Assessment of Liver Viscosity in a Healthy Cohort

“…However, published data on liver viscosity are still limited. Therefore, establishing the normal liver viscosity values and their normal variability in healthy subjects is a necessity in order to differentiate normal from pathological [ 16 , 17 ]. To our knowledge, this is the first study that aims to assess the normal ranges of liver viscosity values and to analyze the effects of gender, age, and body mass index (BMI) in a large cohort of subjects with healthy livers.…”