Ultrasound Elastography of Ethanol-induced Hepatic Lesions:In Vitro Study

Objective To study the value of ultrasound elastography in evaluation of ethanol-induced lesions of liver.Methods Alcohol with a dose of 2 ml was injected into a fresh porcine liver under ultrasound guidance to create stiff necrosis.Then freehand elastography of the lesion from the identical scan plane was obtained with SONOLINE Antares system using VF10-5 probe at about every 30 seconds till 6 minutes later.The original high quality radiofrequency data were acquired through an ultrasound research interface which was provided by the ultrasound system.Then,corresponding elastograms were produced offline using cross-correlation technique and compared with gross pathology findings.Results Gray-scale sonogram showed a hyperechoic area with acoustic shadow below appeared immediately after alcohol injection.The hyperechoic area tended to be diffuse and its boundary to be illegible with time.On the contrary,the ethanol-induced lesion in elastogram appeared as a low strain hard region surrounded by high strain soft hepatic tissues,with clear but irregular boundaries.Sequential elastograms with the sketched lesion boundaries showed that the lesion area increased in the first 3 minutes after ethanol injection,and then reached a plateau which corresponding to gross specimen.Conclusion Ultrasound elastography is capable of detecting and evaluating the diffusion of ethanol-induced hepatic lesion,and more sensitive and accurate than routine sonography.