OBJECTIVES AND BACKGROUND To assess the variability of a new point shear wave elastography that uses ARFI technique-ElastPQ, as a non-invasive method for liver fibrosis assessment. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study included 88 consecutive subjects (43.2% women, 56.8% men, mean age 52.2±14.7 years old, 20.5% with BMI ≥ 30kg/m 2), with or without chronic viral hepathopaties and healthy volunteers. Two operators, with at least 2 years of experience in the field of liver elastography, performed 10

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... secutive valid elastographic measurements in the liver parenchyma using ElastPQ (Philips, Affinity) technique (Fig1). Large vessels were avoided. Reliable liver stiffness measurements (LSM) were defined as the median value of 10 LSM expressed in kPa. The intra and interobserver variability of ElastPQ technology was analyzed with intraclass correlation (ICC) coefficient. RESULTS The overall intra-and interobserver agreement was excellent: ICC 0.97 vs. ICC 0.89. A strong correlation was obtained between measurements assessed by both operators (r=0.84, p<0.0001) and also between measurements assessed by a single operator 0.87 (p<0.0001). The ICCs were excellent in case of normal weight and obese patients, for both intra-and interobserver variability, (0.94 vs. 0.97 and 0.86 vs. 0.89, respectively). CONCLUSIONS ElastPQ is a highly reproducible method for assessing liver fibrosis. Figure1: ElastPQ examination of the liver REFERENCES 1. Ferraioli G, Tinelli C, Lissandrin R, Zicchetti M, Dal Bello B, Filice G, Filice C. Point shear wave elastography method for assessing liver stiffness. World J Gastroenterol. 2014;20:4787-96. 2.Ling W, Lu Q, Quan J, Ma L, Luo Y. Assessment of impact factors on shear wave based liver stiffness measurement. Eur J Radiol. 2013;82:335-41.