Application of Shear Wave Elastography in assessing liver allograft function in patients using organs from deceased citizens / 中华器官移植杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the correlation between the elastographic characteristics of liver and postoperative function of liver allografts.Methods Forty-eight cases of liver transplantation from The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University were analyzed,Shear wave elastography (SWE) was performed before operation or at one week or one month post-operation.Liver function was evaluated by measuring alanine aminotransferase (ALT),aspartate transaminase (AST),total bilirubin (TBIL),γ-glutamine transferase (GGT),albumin (ALB),alkaline phosphatase (ALP),prothrombin time (PT),activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT),and international normalized ratio (INR).Early allograft dysfunction (EAD) was also analyzed with reference to SWE among liver transplant recipients.Results SWE at one week after transplantation was significantly correlated with TBIL (r=0.525 6,P<0.01),APTT (r=0.668 3,P<0.000 1),PT (r=0.593 7,P=0.000 1),INR (r=0.609 6,P<0.000 1) and prealbumin (r=-0.464 1,P<0.01).However,no significant correlation was observed between pre-operative SWE and parameters of post-operative liver function.SWE in EAD patients was higher than that of patients without EAD (17.60±1.09 kPa vs.13.38±0.99 kPa,P<0.01).The optimal cut-off value of SWE at one week post-operation was 14.85 kPa.Conclusion Postoperative SWE is significantly correlated with postoperative liver function tests and EAD,suggesting SWE is a potential test for evaluating the quality of liver allografts.