The Preliminary Research On The VTQ Technology In The Diagnosis Of Early Liver Cirrhosis

Objectives:Study the changes of tissue hardness in early liver cirrhosis through virtual touchtissue quantification (VTQ) technology and discuss the consistency of elasticity indexof the left and right lobe. Find the parts of liver where could reflect the tissue elasticof early liver cirrhosis best, and improve the diagnostic level of ultrasonic imaging inearly liver cirrhosis and provide reliable imaging basis for the diagnosis and clinicaltreatment of early liver cirrhosis, then further improve the application value ofultrasound examination in diffuse liver diseases, especially in early liver cirrhosis.Methods:According to the Scheuer standard, we chose51patients with early livercirrhosis (32male and19female) who visited the Second Hospital of Jilin MedicalUniversity from September2012to December2013, who were all in S4stage of liverfibrosis by liver biopsy, with an average age of（46.41±1.42） years. Normal controlgroup included50cases (29male and21female), their average age is （43.12±1.07）years, and the criteria for inclusion are that they had no liver, kidney, heart and braindiseases, their liver and kidney function is normal and the hepatitis B virus markerswere negative. We measured the shear wave velocity of the left and right hepatic lobeof the members in both groups respectively, by utilizing virtual touch tissuequantification(VTQ) of ACUSON S2000color doppler ultrasonic diagnosticinstrument. Data analysis: SPPS17.0statistical analysis software is used andmeasurement data are expressed by mean±standard deviation （x±S）. We dealt VTQreference values between the left and right hepatic lobe in both groups with pairedsample t test, revealing no statistical significance of the comparing difference. Themeasurement data between the two groups are processed by independent sample t test,the difference has statistically significance when P <0.05. Results:1. The VTQ reference values of the left and right liver lobes in normal controlgroup are (1.22±0.066) m/s and (1.21±0.056) m/s respectively, the contrast analysis ofVTQ values of the left and right liver lobes have no statistical significance (p>0.05).2. The VTQ reference values in early liver cirrhosis group of the left lobe is(2.79±0.207) m/s, the right lobe group is (2.33±0.196) m/s, the comparison of VTQvalues between the left and right lobe in early liver cirrhosis is statistically significant(p <0.05). Both the VTQ values of left lobe group and right lobe group showed atrend of increase, but standard deviations of the right lobe group is below the left lobegroup.3. The VTQ reference value is (1.21±0.056) m/s in normal control group and(2.33±0.196) m/s in early cirrhosis group, and there was statistically significance (t=37.52, p <0.001) of the difference between VTQ values of the two groups.Conclusions:1. The VTQ values of the normal liver have no difference between the right andleft lobes.2. The difference between the VTQ values of left and right lobes in earlycirrhosis livers is more apparent. All of the VTQ values of left hepatic lobes arehigher than the right lobes in patients with early liver cirrhosis, but the accuracy andstability of the VTQ values of the right liver lobes is significantly higher than the leftlobes. That demonstrates measuring VTQ values of the right lobes can better reflectthe degree of liver fibrosis in early stage of cirrhosis in a timely manner.3. This study measured the VTQ values of left and right lobe in early livercirrhosis group, which are compared with normal control group. It found that the livertissue hardness has significant changes in early liver cirrhosis group, which hassignificant clinical significance for the early diagnosis of liver cirrhosis.4. Virtual touch tissue quantification (VTQ) technique can non-invasivelymeasure the degree of liver fibrosis, and it is a kind of effective method for thediagnosis of early liver cirrhosis, it expands the application of ultrasound to assess the degree of liver fibrosis. The technology is simple, non-invasive, strongly specific andhighly sensitive, and is suitable for the liver routine examination.