M.F. SHICHKIN, I.I. ZHIRKOV, V.V. YAKOVLEV, YA.E. PROCHIK

 S.M. Kirov Military Medical Academy, Saint-Petersburg

Contact details:

Shichkin M.F. — 1^st year resident trainee of the 1^st Faculty of Medical Leadership

Address: 6 Akademika Lebedeva St., 194044 Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation, tel.: +7-999-529-32-90, е-mail: max-shichkin@yandex.ru

The article presents a scientific review of modern elastography techniques – a high-tech field of ultrasound diagnostics that allows noninvasively assessing the stiffness of biological tissues in the detection of fibrous and tumor changes. The authors consider main types of elastography, their physical principles, technical features, and clinical application. four key techniques were compared: transient elastography, point and two-dimensional shear wave elastography, and magnetic resonance elastography. The work systematizes modern data on the values of liver stiffness in healthy individuals, as well as on diagnostic criteria for liver fibrotic changes of various etiologies.

The elastography method is widely used in the diagnosis of chronic diffuse liver diseases (CDLD). Special attention is paid to assessing the degree of fibrous transformation of the liver parenchyma, since this factor largely determines the clinical prognosis and choice of therapeutic tactics.

The interest to elastography is primarily due to a number of significant disadvantages of percutaneous puncture liver biopsy, which has long been considered the “gold standard” for diagnosing CDLD.

Currently, the combined use of elastographic techniques and predictive indices for fibrosis assessment has become a promising area in diagnosing CDLD. This approach significantly improves the accuracy of diagnosing fibrotic changes in the hepatic parenchyma, providing more informed decision-making regarding the management of CDLD patients.

Key words: transient elastography, two-dimensional shear wave elastography, magnetic resonance elastography, chronic diffuse liver diseases, liver fibrosis

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