The present study aimed to investigate the feasibility of quantitative analysis of liver fibrosis using real-time tissue elastography (RTE) and its pathological and molecule biological basis.
Methods: Fifty-four New Zealand rabbits were subcutaneously injected with thioacetamide (TAA) to induce liver fibrosis as the model group, and another eight New Zealand rabbits served as the normal control group. Four rabbits were randomly taken every two weeks for real-time tissue elastography (RTE) and quantitative analysis of tissue diffusion. The obtained twelve characteristic quantities included relative mean value (MEAN), standard deviation (SD), blue area % (% AREA), complexity (COMP), kurtosis (KURT), skewness (SKEW), contrast (CONT), entropy (ENT), inverse different moment (IDM), angular secon moment (ASM), correlation (CORR) and liver fibrosis index (LF Index). Rabbits were executed and liver tissues were taken for pathological staging of liver fibrosis (grouped by pathological stage into S0 group, S1 group, S2 group, S3 group and S4 group). In addition, the collagen I (Col I) and collagen III (Col III) expression levels in liver tissue were detected by Western blot.
Results: Except for KURT, there were significant differences among the other eleven characteristic quantities (P < 0.05). LF Index, Col I and Col III expression levels showed a rising trend with increased pathological staging of liver fibrosis, presenting a positive correlation with the pathological staging of liver fibrosis (r = 0.718, r = 0.693, r = 0.611, P < 0.05).
Conclusion: RTE quantitative analysis is expected for noninvasive evaluation of the pathological staging of liver fibrosis.
Keywords: Ultrasound; elastography; liver fibrosis; non-invasive diagnosis.