Roberta Pozzi1, Ilaria Parzanese1, Alessandra Baccarin1, Mariangela Giunta1, Clara Benedetta Conti1, Paolo Cantù1, Giovanni Casazza2, Andrea Tenca1, Roberto Rosa1, Daniele Gridavilla1, Giovanni Casella3, Dario Conte1, Mirella Fraquelli4. 1. Gastroenterology and Endoscopy Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda - Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy. 2. Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences Luigi Sacco, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy. 3. Internal Medicine Unit, Ospedale di Desio, Desio, Italy. 4. Gastroenterology and Endoscopy Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda - Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy. Electronic address: mfraquelli@yahoo.it.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Objectives: ElastPQ®-pSWE is an ultrasound technique developed to stage disease severity in patients with chronic liver diseases. Little data is available about its application to the pancreas. We aimed to assess the feasibility and reproducibility of pancreatic stiffness (PS) measurements in patients with chronic pancreatitis and their relationship with clinical and laboratory data. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 52 consecutive patients with chronic pancreatitis (CP) (40 males; median age 60 years) underwent hepatic and pancreatic pSWE. Liver stiffness was measured by transient elastography, 42 healthy subjects being controls (25 males; median age 54 years). Pancreatic pSWE inter-observer agreement was analyzed by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The effects of clinical, laboratory and US data on PS measurements were evaluated by linear regression. RESULTS: pSWE was feasible in all the CP patients, but one. Pancreatic stiffness was significantly higher in CP patients than healthy controls (4.3 ± SD 2.4 vs. 2.8 ± SD 1.1 kPa, respectively, p = 0.001). Significantly higher values in the CP group were observed in patients with longer disease duration (>10 vs. ≤10 years) (5.8 ± SD 4 vs. 3.9 ± SD 1.5 kPa, respectively, p = 0.01), on chronic analgesic drugs (6.0 vs. 3.5 kPa, p < 0.05) and with lower body weight (p < 0.05, r = -0.38). At multivariate analysis all the three variables resulted independently associated to the pancreatic stiffness value. The ICC for PS was 0.77. CONCLUSIONS: ElastPQ®-pSWE is promising and reproducible in assessing pancreatic stiffness, which mainly reflects disease length and severity. Accordingly, its use is of potential value in stratifying CP patients by identifying those with a more serious degree of disease.
BACKGROUND: Objectives: ElastPQ®-pSWE is an ultrasound technique developed to stage disease severity in patients with chronic liver diseases. Little data is available about its application to the pancreas. We aimed to assess the feasibility and reproducibility of pancreatic stiffness (PS) measurements in patients with chronic pancreatitis and their relationship with clinical and laboratory data. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 52 consecutive patients with chronic pancreatitis (CP) (40 males; median age 60 years) underwent hepatic and pancreatic pSWE. Liver stiffness was measured by transient elastography, 42 healthy subjects being controls (25 males; median age 54 years). Pancreatic pSWE inter-observer agreement was analyzed by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The effects of clinical, laboratory and US data on PS measurements were evaluated by linear regression. RESULTS: pSWE was feasible in all the CPpatients, but one. Pancreatic stiffness was significantly higher in CPpatients than healthy controls (4.3 ± SD 2.4 vs. 2.8 ± SD 1.1 kPa, respectively, p = 0.001). Significantly higher values in the CP group were observed in patients with longer disease duration (>10 vs. ≤10 years) (5.8 ± SD 4 vs. 3.9 ± SD 1.5 kPa, respectively, p = 0.01), on chronic analgesic drugs (6.0 vs. 3.5 kPa, p < 0.05) and with lower body weight (p < 0.05, r = -0.38). At multivariate analysis all the three variables resulted independently associated to the pancreatic stiffness value. The ICC for PS was 0.77. CONCLUSIONS: ElastPQ®-pSWE is promising and reproducible in assessing pancreatic stiffness, which mainly reflects disease length and severity. Accordingly, its use is of potential value in stratifying CPpatients by identifying those with a more serious degree of disease.
Authors: Priyanka Gupta; Stella Totti; Pedro A Pérez-Mancera; Eleanor Dyke; Andrew Nisbet; Giuseppe Schettino; Roger Webb; Eirini G Velliou Journal: RSC Adv Date: 2019-12-17 Impact factor: 4.036