ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the value of liver stiffness measured by acoustic radiation force impulse imaging(ARFI) in assessing hepatic functional reserve in patients with space-occupying lesions in the liver.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty-three patients with space-occupying lesions in the liver were enrolled. Liver stiffness (LS) measurements with ARFI and indocyanine green(ICG) retention test were performed in the same day, and plasma clearance rate of indocyanine green(ICG-K), ICG retention at 15 minutes(ICGR15) as well as 10 effective values of LS were recorded. The correlation between Child-Pugh score, ICGR15, ICG-K, and LS were evaluated.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The LS measurements with ARFI failed in one patient. A strong correlation between LS and ICGR15(r=0.789, P<0.01) and an inverse correlation between LS and ICG-K(r=-0.738, P<0.01) were observed. Besides, there was a significant correlation between LS measurements and Child-Pugh score(r=0.929, P<0.01) . The LS significantly differed among patients with Child-Pugh class A, B, and C(P<0.01) .</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>ARFI is a simple, feasible and non-invasive method for assessing hepatic functional reserve in patients with space-occupying lesions in the liver.</p>