Comparative Assessment of Point Shear Wave Elastography (pSWE) and Two-Dimensional Shear Wave Elastography (2D-SWE) in the Diagnostic Evaluation of Simple Liver Cysts and Liver Hemangiomas

<i>Background and Objectives</i>: What led to the development of elastography was the emerging need for a method that could objectively and accurately assess the stiffness of internal structures. As a result, a distinction between normal from pathological tissues becomes possible. Objective: To evaluate non-invasive elastographic techniques, point shear wave elastography (pSWE) and two-dimensional shear wave elastography (2D-SWE), as methods for differentiating simple liver cysts from liver hemangiomas. <i>Materials and Methods</i>-a total of 63 patients-32 with simple liver cysts and 31 with liver hemangiomas were analyzed. The purpose was to determine the values of the average trend (arithmetic mean or median according to the data distribution) as well as the reference intervals of SWV for both methods in the above-mentioned patients. Final diagnoses were confirmed by contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT). <i>Results</i>: The pSWE SWV values (median) for simple hepatic cysts showed an average trend of 1.14 m/s, with an upper limit of 3.33 m/s and a lower limit of 0.35 m/s. For 2D-SWE, the average trend for simple hepatic cysts was 1.00 m/s, with an upper limit of 1.54 m/s and a lower limit of 0.65 m/s. For liver hemangiomas, the average trend in pSWE was 1.36 m/s, with an upper limit of 3.22 m/s and a lower limit of 0.57 m/s. For 2D-SWE, the average trend was 1.34 m/s, with an upper limit of 2.27 m/s and a lower limit of 0.80 m/s. Findings in our work mainly serve as reference values. <i>Conclusions</i>: The accurate diagnosis of liver diseases is of paramount importance when it comes to the approach and treatment of individual benign liver lesions. Early diagnosis of focal liver lesions remains a challenging task.