剪切波弹性成像技术定量评价亚临床性甲状腺功能减退症患者颈动脉弹性

Objective: To observe the value of shear wave elastography (SWE) for quantitative evaluation on carotid elasticity in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) compared with the radio frequency ultrasound technology. Methods: A total of 84 cases of SCH patients (study group) and 82 healthy volunteers (control group) were enrolled. The intima-media thickness (IMT), distention coefficient (DC), compliance coefficient (CC), α coefficient, β coefficient and pulse wave velocity (PWV) of bilateral carotid artery were measured with the radio frequency ultrasound technology, while the mean elastic modulus of elasticity (ME_mean), the maximum modulus of elasticity (ME_max) and minimum modulus of elasticity (ME_min) were measured with SWE. The above parameters were compared between groups. Linear regression was used to evaluate the correlation of the parameters and ME_mean. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were drawn to calculate the area under the curve (AUC) for assess the efficacy of ME_mean in evaluating elasticity in patients with SCH. Results: DC and CC in study group were significantly lower than those in control group (all P< 0.05), while α coefficient, β coefficient, PWV, ME_mean and ME_max were significantly higher than those in control group (all P< 0.05). ME_mean was positively related to α coefficient, β coefficient and PWV (r=0.453, 0.521, 0.717, all P< 0.05). The AUC of ME_mean for predicting arterial elasticity changes of SCH patients was 0.822, with the sensitivity of 76.2% and the specificity of 63.8%. Conclusion: SWE could quantitatively evaluate the changes of carotid elasticity in SCH patients.