For many years, needle biopsy remains the gold standard for liver disease assessment, but the procedure is associated with pain and discomfort for patients such that they put off liver screening till irreversible damage is done. Hitachi Healthcare wants to make a change, and this is where our comprehensive suite of liver diagnostic solutions come in to support clinicians with non-invasive alternatives to assess patients with liver disease.
Real-time Tissue Elastography (RTE)
Real-time Tissue Elastography (RTE)
RTE helps clinicians visualize the relative tissue stiffness in real-time, by displaying hard and soft tissues as a colour map, superimposed onto B-mode image.
The study of elastography patterns, with the added support of Hitachi’s LF index also serves to estimate the degree of liver fibrosis staging in patients. These parameters are not affected by conditions such as inflammation.
Shear Wave Measurement (SWM)
Shear Wave Measurement (SWM)
Shear waves are generated by ‘push pulses’ transmitted from the transducer to excite the tissues. The propagation velocity (Vs) of the shear waves are then calculated, and converted to kPa as an Elasticity Indicator (E), to determine the patient’s stage of fibrosis.
Reliability Index (VsN)
Hitachi’s SWM provides an additional Reliability Index (VsN) to give an objective evaluation on the Vs and E results obtained. A score above 50% can be used for accurate diagnosis.
Fatty Liver Attenuation Index (ATT)
Ultrasound attenuation gets higher as fat tissue increases. As such, hepatic fatty infiltration can easily be evaluated by quantifying the attenuation of ultrasound propagation, shown via Hitachi’s ATT index. A normal liver has an ATT index of 0.5 – 0.6 dB/cm/MHz; the higher the value, the greater the severity of fatty liver metamorphosis.
Shear Wave Elastography (SWE)
For quick and simple evaluation of tissue elasticity, 2D SWE can provide a quantitative estimation of tissue stiffness, whilst displaying it as a colour-coded map in real-time. Selection of ROI is made easy with up to 5 flexible circle or ellipse measurements.
Combi-Elasto
Combi-Elasto
There are many techniques as shown above to assess liver diseases. However, to have a comprehensive assessment of the chronological progression of liver diseases, Combi-Elasto is able to provide indices corresponding to the different clinical conditions.
Supported by Advanced Imaging Algorithms For The Best Visualization
eFocusing
Achieve images that are dynamically focused at all depths.
Detective Flow Imaging
Detect low flow states with minimal background artefact.
Carving
Identify lesions easily with enhanced tissue borders and structure differences.
eFlow
Observe blood flow in high definition with drastic improvement in spatial and temporal resolution
Contrast Harmonic Imaging
For interventional support, CHI enhances micro-vascular structures for increased precision in lesion characterization, and localization.
Real-time Virtual Sonography
Additionally, you can fuse multiple imaging modalities with ultrasound for real-time direct comparison and identification of suspicious lesions during surgical procedures.
