An investigation of the efficacy of shear wave elastography in the characterization of benign and malignant liver lesions.

Purpose: To investigate whether shear wave elastography (SWE) examination, which has recently been proposed as an accessory radiological examination technique, is effective in characterizing focal liver lesions (FLLs). Material and methods: A total of 105 patients, comprising 48 males and 57 females, underwent SWE examination. The mean age of the patients was 53.31 ± 1.59 (age range 5-87) years. The SWE measurements were obtained from FLLs that were approximately 2 to 8 cm in depth in a box that was approximately 0.5 × 1 cm wide on an ultrasonography (USG) screen from approximately 2 different locations. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to determine the diagnostic SWE values in the differentiation of benign and malignant lesions. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive and negative predictive values were calculated in the presence of significant limit values. Results: The SWE values, in kPa and m/s, in the malignant lesions were significantly higher than those in the benign lesions ( Conclusions: In addition to providing little contribution to the differentiation of benign and malignant lesions, the SWE technique is thought to contribute to a certain extent, especially in suspected cases, during the diagnosis with cross-sectional methods.