The Experience of Application Sonoelastography in Pediatric Practice (Preliminary Report)

Natalia Marochko Galina Makhneva

Khabarovsk, Children's Regional Hospital

Purpose: Acoustic
radiation force impulse( ARFI) elastometry is a noninvasive technique for the
quantification of tissue stiffnes. The aim of the study was to assess the
possibility of applying Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse (ARFI) elastography to
detect the pathological changes in parenchymal organs of the abdominal cavity

in children.

Methods: The study
examined 120 subjects, aged from 1 month to 18 years old: 84(70%) «normal»
subjects without clinical signs and
history of disease of abdominal organs, with normal laboratory tests and
ultrasonography; 28 (23%) - patients
without clinical and laboratory signs, with transient ultrasonography of the
parenchymal changes; 8
(7%) - with permanent signs of the parenchyma.
All children were examined at the study of abdominal organs that was performed on Siemens Acuson
S2000 using conventional ultrasound and ARFI technology. Five valid ARFI measurements (at the same
depth and in the same anatomic segments) were conducted in the parenchyma of

each organ.

Results: In our study mean ARFI values for «normal» subjects were obtained:1,3±0,24 m\s- for liver,1,0
±0,21 m/s -for pancreas, 2,27±0,46 m/s - for spleen. Statistically significant
differences by age and sex were not discovered. In the presence of permanent
signs the mean ARFI values were various, depending on nosology and differed
significantly from the mean ARFI values obtained from the «normal» subjects.
In the presence of reactive changes in parenchymal organs the
mean ARFI values did not have statistically
significant differences
from the «normal»

subjects.

Conclusion: The application of ARFI
in an integrated ultrasonic diagnosis of abdominal parenchymatous organs pathology in children helps to identify initial diffuse signs of parenchyma and to assess their severity.

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