Supersonic shear imaging (SSI) is a relatively new technique to measure the elasticity of target tissues based on the shear wave propagation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the value of SSI in discriminating nonfibrotic nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) from the less severe nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), NASH with fibrosis, and the normal liver, as well as the relationship between various NAFLD pathologic or biochemical findings and SSI liver elasticity. Rabbits with NAFLD of different degrees were subjected to SSI for liver elasticity measurement. Plasma was collected for biochemical examinations, and liver tissues were harvested for pathologic assessment. Results showed that liver elasticity of rabbits with nonfibrotic NASH was significantly different from that of rabbits with simple steatosis, borderline, NASH with fibrosis, and normal liver () and the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve of SSI for predicting nonfibrotic NASH and NASH with fibrosis were 0.997 and 0.967, respectively, and the optimal cutoff values were 10.17 kPa and 12.82 kPa, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that only fibrosis and inflammation were the independent factors affecting liver elasticity of NAFLD (), while inflammation, steatosis, and ballooning degeneration were all independently related to liver elasticity in rabbits without fibrosis (). In addition, alanine aminotransferase was the only biochemical factor independently related to liver elasticity (). Our results indicate that SSI can effectively identify nonfibrotic NASH in rabbits based on the difference in liver elasticity and the difference is related to the various pathologic changes, including fibrosis, inflammation, steatosis, and ballooning degeneration.

中文翻译：

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超声剪切成像可以有效鉴别非纤维化非酒精性脂肪性肝炎吗？

超音速剪切成像（SSI）是一种相对新的技术，可基于剪切波传播来测量目标组织的弹性。这项研究的目的是评估SSI在区分非纤维化非酒精性脂肪性肝炎（NASH）与较轻度非酒精性脂肪肝疾病（NAFLD），纤维化的NASH和正常肝脏中的价值，以及各种NAFLD病理学之间的关系或生化检查结果和SSI肝弹性。对具有不同程度NAFLD的兔子进行SSI，以测定其肝弹性。收集血浆进行生化检查，收集肝脏组织进行病理评估。结果显示，非纤维化NASH兔的肝脏弹性与单纯脂肪变性，交界性，纤维化的NASH兔的肝脏弹性显着不同，），SSI接收器工作特性曲线下用于预测非纤维化NASH和伴纤维化的NASH的面积分别为0.997和0.967，最佳截止值分别为10.17 kPa和12.82 kPa。多因素分析表明，只有纤维化和炎症是影响NAFLD肝弹性的独立因素（），而无纤维化的兔子的炎症，脂肪变性和球囊变性均与肝脏弹性独立相关（）。此外，丙氨酸转氨酶是唯一与肝脏弹性独立相关的生化因子（）。我们的结果表明，SSI可以根据肝脏弹性的差异有效地鉴定家兔的非纤维化NASH，并且该差异与各种病理变化有关，包括纤维化，炎症，脂肪变性和球囊变性。