Table 2.
Respective Characteristics, Advantages, and Limitations of the 4 Available Elastography Techniques for Liver Fibrosis Staging
| Techniques | Performed by | Units (range) | Steatosis grading | Quality criteria | Failure rate, % | Confounders | Evidence in NAFLD study patients | Cost | Point of care | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inflammation | Obesity | Others | |||||||||
| TE | Hepatologist, trained | kPa (2–75) | Yes | Well-defined | 3–27 | ++ | ++ | Congestion steatosis? | n = 25 | $ | Yes |
| nurse or technician | CAP | IQR/M <30% | XL-probe | 3862 | |||||||
| MRE | Radiologist | kPaa (2–11) | Yes | Emerging QIBA | 0–2 | + | - | Congestion iron overload | n = 6 | $$$ | No |
| PDFF | consensus | + | 676 | ||||||||
| statement | + | ||||||||||
| pSWE/ARFI | Radiologist or | m/s (0.5–4.4) | No | Not well-defined | 2 | + ? | + ? | Similar to TE? | n = 8 | $$ | No |
| ultrasonographer | limited data | limited data | limited data | 834 | |||||||
| 2D-SWE | Radiologist or | kPa (2–150) | No | Not well-defined | 13 ? | + ? | + ? | Similar to TE? | n = 2 | $$ | No |
| ultrasonographer | limited data | limited data | limited data | 447 | |||||||
IQR/M, interquartile range/median; QIBA, Quantitative Imaging Biomarkers Alliance.
a
MRE is reported as shear modulus, while ultrasound elastography techniques are reported in Young modulus. The Young modulus is 3 times the shear modulus.