Superb Microvascular Imaging (SMI) Compared with Color Doppler Ultrasound for the Assessment of Hepatic Artery in Pediatric Liver Transplants: A Feasibility Study
(1) Background: Despite progression in surgical techniques and immunological treatments, hepatic artery (HA) thrombosis and stenosis still develop as an early or late liver transplant (LT) complication. We aimed to compare superb microvascular imaging (SMI) with conventional Doppler imaging (CDI) in...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Diagnostics |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/12/6/1476 |
| _version_ | 1797488244640710656 |
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| author | Elona Collaku Roberto Simonini Maurizio Balbi Pietro Andrea Bonaffini Clarissa Valle Cesare Morzenti Romina Fatima Faseli Alberto Ferrari Davide Ippolito Paolo Marra Tiziano Barbui Sandro Sironi |
| author_facet | Elona Collaku Roberto Simonini Maurizio Balbi Pietro Andrea Bonaffini Clarissa Valle Cesare Morzenti Romina Fatima Faseli Alberto Ferrari Davide Ippolito Paolo Marra Tiziano Barbui Sandro Sironi |
| author_sort | Elona Collaku |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | (1) Background: Despite progression in surgical techniques and immunological treatments, hepatic artery (HA) thrombosis and stenosis still develop as an early or late liver transplant (LT) complication. We aimed to compare superb microvascular imaging (SMI) with conventional Doppler imaging (CDI) in the assessment of HA in a cohort of pediatric patients undergoing follow-up ultrasound (US) for LT. (2) Methods: This prospective, observational study included 73 pediatric LT recipients (median age, 7 years; IQR, 5.8 years; 35 females) who underwent US during LT follow-up from March to December 2019. For each examination, CDI and SMI were separately assessed in terms of HA visibility and spectral waveform morphology (SWM). The former was scored based on HA discrimination from the blooming signal of the surrounding vessels, as follows: 0, not visible; 1, majority course hardly distinguishable; and 2, majority course clearly distinguishable. The latter was scored on a two-point scale: 0, combined venous and arterial SWM, and 1, pure arterial SWM. The patient’s overall score was finally calculated by adding the two individual scores. (3) Results: Both the absolute scores and frequency of overall scores equal to 3 (maximum global score) were higher using SMI compared with CDI. The median overall score was 3 for SMI and 2 for CDI (<i>p</i> = 0.011; IQR = 1). An overall score equal to 3 was obtained in 74% and 49.3% of the study population using SMI and CDI, respectively (<i>p</i> = 0.002). This was attributable to a better score in HA visibility (<i>p</i> = 0.007). (4) Conclusions: SMI has shown promise for assessing HA in pediatric LT recipients, possibly serving as a complementary non-invasive tool of CDI in everyday practice. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T23:59:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-65d97c7bf3a04d5dbbb56fef3773d97b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-4418 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T23:59:16Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Diagnostics |
| spelling | doaj.art-65d97c7bf3a04d5dbbb56fef3773d97b2023-11-23T16:18:47ZengMDPI AGDiagnostics2075-44182022-06-01126147610.3390/diagnostics12061476Superb Microvascular Imaging (SMI) Compared with Color Doppler Ultrasound for the Assessment of Hepatic Artery in Pediatric Liver Transplants: A Feasibility StudyElona Collaku0Roberto Simonini1Maurizio Balbi2Pietro Andrea Bonaffini3Clarissa Valle4Cesare Morzenti5Romina Fatima Faseli6Alberto Ferrari7Davide Ippolito8Paolo Marra9Tiziano Barbui10Sandro Sironi11Department of Radiology, Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital, Piazza OMS 1, 24127 Bergamo, BG, ItalyDepartment of Radiology, Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital, Piazza OMS 1, 24127 Bergamo, BG, ItalyDepartment of Radiology, Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital, Piazza OMS 1, 24127 Bergamo, BG, ItalyDepartment of Radiology, Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital, Piazza OMS 1, 24127 Bergamo, BG, ItalyDepartment of Radiology, Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital, Piazza OMS 1, 24127 Bergamo, BG, ItalyDepartment of Radiology, Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital, Piazza OMS 1, 24127 Bergamo, BG, ItalyDepartment of Radiology, Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital, Piazza OMS 1, 24127 Bergamo, BG, ItalyFROM Research Foundation, Piazza OMS 1, 24127 Bergamo, BG, ItalySchool of Medicine, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell’Ateneo Nuovo 1, 20126 Milan, MI, ItalyDepartment of Radiology, Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital, Piazza OMS 1, 24127 Bergamo, BG, ItalyFROM Research Foundation, Piazza OMS 1, 24127 Bergamo, BG, ItalyDepartment of Radiology, Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital, Piazza OMS 1, 24127 Bergamo, BG, Italy(1) Background: Despite progression in surgical techniques and immunological treatments, hepatic artery (HA) thrombosis and stenosis still develop as an early or late liver transplant (LT) complication. We aimed to compare superb microvascular imaging (SMI) with conventional Doppler imaging (CDI) in the assessment of HA in a cohort of pediatric patients undergoing follow-up ultrasound (US) for LT. (2) Methods: This prospective, observational study included 73 pediatric LT recipients (median age, 7 years; IQR, 5.8 years; 35 females) who underwent US during LT follow-up from March to December 2019. For each examination, CDI and SMI were separately assessed in terms of HA visibility and spectral waveform morphology (SWM). The former was scored based on HA discrimination from the blooming signal of the surrounding vessels, as follows: 0, not visible; 1, majority course hardly distinguishable; and 2, majority course clearly distinguishable. The latter was scored on a two-point scale: 0, combined venous and arterial SWM, and 1, pure arterial SWM. The patient’s overall score was finally calculated by adding the two individual scores. (3) Results: Both the absolute scores and frequency of overall scores equal to 3 (maximum global score) were higher using SMI compared with CDI. The median overall score was 3 for SMI and 2 for CDI (<i>p</i> = 0.011; IQR = 1). An overall score equal to 3 was obtained in 74% and 49.3% of the study population using SMI and CDI, respectively (<i>p</i> = 0.002). This was attributable to a better score in HA visibility (<i>p</i> = 0.007). (4) Conclusions: SMI has shown promise for assessing HA in pediatric LT recipients, possibly serving as a complementary non-invasive tool of CDI in everyday practice.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/12/6/1476conventional Dopplersuperb microvascular imagingliver transplantationpediatricfeasibility |
| spellingShingle | Elona Collaku Roberto Simonini Maurizio Balbi Pietro Andrea Bonaffini Clarissa Valle Cesare Morzenti Romina Fatima Faseli Alberto Ferrari Davide Ippolito Paolo Marra Tiziano Barbui Sandro Sironi Superb Microvascular Imaging (SMI) Compared with Color Doppler Ultrasound for the Assessment of Hepatic Artery in Pediatric Liver Transplants: A Feasibility Study Diagnostics conventional Doppler superb microvascular imaging liver transplantation pediatric feasibility |
| title | Superb Microvascular Imaging (SMI) Compared with Color Doppler Ultrasound for the Assessment of Hepatic Artery in Pediatric Liver Transplants: A Feasibility Study |
| title_full | Superb Microvascular Imaging (SMI) Compared with Color Doppler Ultrasound for the Assessment of Hepatic Artery in Pediatric Liver Transplants: A Feasibility Study |
| title_fullStr | Superb Microvascular Imaging (SMI) Compared with Color Doppler Ultrasound for the Assessment of Hepatic Artery in Pediatric Liver Transplants: A Feasibility Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Superb Microvascular Imaging (SMI) Compared with Color Doppler Ultrasound for the Assessment of Hepatic Artery in Pediatric Liver Transplants: A Feasibility Study |
| title_short | Superb Microvascular Imaging (SMI) Compared with Color Doppler Ultrasound for the Assessment of Hepatic Artery in Pediatric Liver Transplants: A Feasibility Study |
| title_sort | superb microvascular imaging smi compared with color doppler ultrasound for the assessment of hepatic artery in pediatric liver transplants a feasibility study |
| topic | conventional Doppler superb microvascular imaging liver transplantation pediatric feasibility |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/12/6/1476 |
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