Association of shear-wave elastography with clinical outcomes post-liver transplantation

Tom Boeken; Olivier Lucidarme; Elsa Mbarki; Olivier Scatton; Eric Savier; Mathilde Wagner

doi:10.1016/j.clinre.2020.09.015

Association of shear-wave elastography with clinical outcomes post-liver transplantation

Clin Res Hepatol Gastroenterol. 2021 Sep;45(5):101554. doi: 10.1016/j.clinre.2020.09.015. Epub 2020 Nov 7.

Authors

Tom Boeken¹, Olivier Lucidarme², Elsa Mbarki³, Olivier Scatton⁴, Eric Savier⁴, Mathilde Wagner²

Affiliations

¹ Université Paris Descartes - Sorbonne - Paris Cité, France; Radiologie Polyvalente et Oncologique, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, 47, bd de l'Hôpital, 75651 Paris Cedex 13, France. Electronic address: tom.boeken@polytechnique.org.
² Radiologie Polyvalente et Oncologique, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, 47, bd de l'Hôpital, 75651 Paris Cedex 13, France; Sorbonne Université, CNRS, INSERM, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale (LIB), Service de Radiologie, APHP, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France.
³ Université Paris Descartes - Sorbonne - Paris Cité, France; Radiologie Polyvalente et Oncologique, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, 47, bd de l'Hôpital, 75651 Paris Cedex 13, France.
⁴ Chirurgie Digestive et Hépato-BIlio-Pancréatique, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, 47 blvd de l'Hôpital, 75013, Paris, France; Service de chirurgie digestive hépato-bilio-pancréatique transplantation hépatique, Sorbonne Université, Inserm, Institute of Cardiometabolism and Nutrition, ICAN, Centre de Recherche Saint-Antoine, CRSA, AP-HP, CHU Pitie-Salpetriere, Paris, France.

PMID: 33172788
DOI: 10.1016/j.clinre.2020.09.015

Abstract

Purpose: Two-dimensional shear-wave elastography (2D-SWE) assessment of liver stiffness has the advantage of being obtained during conventional ultrasound. Liver-stiffness values on 2D-SWE for grafted livers are unknown, as are their potential link to post-transplantation morbidity. This study was undertaken to determine liver-stiffness values on 2D-SWE for grafted livers without complications, and examine relationships between liver-stiffness values on 2D-SWE and early post-operative arterial or biliary complications.

Methods: In our facility, all liver-transplant recipients are entered in a comprehensive surgical database, where donor, procedure and recipient characteristics are described. All patients underwent systematic 2D-SWE assessment. Potential relationships were analyzed between liver-stiffness findings and donor, procedure and recipient characteristics, and follow-up events, including death, arterial or biliary complications, graft removal and allograft-dysfunction scores.

Results: Liver-stiffness values on 2D-SWE of 337 ultrasound examinations from 165 liver-transplant recipients were collected retrospectively. Median time from transplantation to 2D-SWE examination was 149 days, with median follow-up at 36 months. The mean±SD stiffness value for grafts without complications was 7.3±2.3kPa; it was significantly higher during the first 90 days (8.2±2.5kPa) post-transplant than after 1year (7.0±2.4kPa) (P=0.01). Patients with biliary complications during the first-year post-transplantation had significantly higher mean liver-stiffness values on 2D-SWE than those without, respectively: 9.8±7.0 vs 7.5±1.8kPa (P=0.01).

Conclusions: Post-transplantation patients without complications had stiffer livers than the general population, with higher values during the first 90 days after surgery. Liver-stiffness values on 2D-SWE were significantly higher for patients with biliary, but not arterial, complications.

Keywords: Bile ducts; Elasticity imaging techniques; End-stage liver disease; Liver transplantation; Ultrasonography.

MeSH terms

Elasticity Imaging Techniques
Humans
Liver Transplantation*
Liver* / diagnostic imaging
Liver* / pathology
Retrospective Studies
Treatment Outcome