Ultrasound viscoelastic imaging in the noninvasive quantitative assessment of chronic kidney disease

This study aims to evaluate the clinical application value of ultrasound viscoelastic imaging in noninvasive quantitative assessment of chronic kidney disease (CKD). A total of 332 patients with CKD and 190 healthy adults as a control group were prospectively enrolled. Before kidney biopsy, ultrasound viscoelastic imaging was performed to measure the mean stiffness value (Emean), mean viscosity coefficient (Vmean), and mean dispersion coefficient (Dmean) of the renal. CKD patients were divided into three groups based on estimated glomerular filtration rate. The differences in clinic, pathology, ultrasound image parameters between the control and patient groups, or among different CKD groups were compared. The correlation between viscoelastic parameters and pathology were analyzed. Emean, Vmean, and Dmean in the control group were less than the CKD group (