Maximum Value Measured by 2-D Shear Wave Elastography Helps in Differentiating Malignancy from Benign Focal Liver Lesions

Abstract The goal of the work described here was to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of 2-D shear wave elastography (2-D SWE) in differentiating malignancy from benign focal liver lesions (FLLs). The maxima, minima, means and the standard deviations of 2-D SWE measurements, expressed in kilopascals ( Emax , Emin , Emean , ESD ), were obtained for 221 patients with 229 FLLs. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of 2-D SWE. The Mann–Whitney U -test was used to assess inter-group differences. Emax , Emin , Emean and ESD were significantly higher in the 164 malignant lesions than in the 65 benign lesions ( p