Nidhin J. K., Dilip Phansalkar, George Kurian
BACKGROUND Acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) elastography is evolving as a promising ultrasound imaging modality in the diagnosis of pancreatic diseases due to its non-invasive nature and employability as a screening technique in diagnosing early tissue changes in the pancreas. We wanted to establish the normal shear wave velocity values of the pancreas in an adult Indian population and correlate age, gender and obesity with ARFI-VTTQ (virtual touch tissue quantification) values of pancreas. METHODS A hospital-based, cross-sectional study was conducted on 278 normal individuals attending for a health check-up or referred for evaluation from various departments. US device S 2000 ACUSON (Siemens) with a 1-4 MHz convex array transducer was used for quantification of shear wave velocity values. Association of age, gender and obesity with the mean shear wave velocity values was evaluated statistically. RESULTS The overall mean shear-wave velocity (SWV) value (m/s) of 9 measured sites of the pancreas was 1.1±0.17 m/s. There was no significant difference between the mean SWV values measured in different regions of the pancreas (p value=0.473). The mean SWV Values (m/s) showed an increasing trend with advancement of age and showed no significant differences among the male and female participants (p=0.98). There was no significant association or positive correlation between the obesity parameters namely BMI and skin fold thickness and the shear wave velocity values. CONCLUSIONS The study affirmed that the shear wave velocity values are not significantly influenced by gender or obesity but by age.
