Evaluation of spleen stiffness in healthy volunteers using point shear wave elastography

Abstract Introduction and aim This study aims to measure the values of spleen stiffness (SS) in healthy subjects, the inter-operator agreement in SS measurement, and to detect statistically significant correlations between SS and age, sex, weight, BMI, portal vein dynamics and splenic dimensions. Materials and methods The study included 100 healthy volunteers who had no substantial alcohol intake ( Results The mean value was 18.14 (±3.08) kPa. In the group of men ( n  = 49), the mean was 17.73 (±2.91) kPa, whereas in the group of women ( n  = 51) it was 16.72 (±3.32) kPa. Statistical analyses showed no correlation between spleen stiffness and sex, age, weight, and BMI. Regarding their splenoportal axis, statistically significant differences in SS were found in the means of the two subgroups of subjects stratified by their portal flow velocity ( p  = 0.003) and spleen area ( p Spearman's rank showed a weak association between SS and portal flow velocty ( r  = 0.271) and splenic area ( r  = −0.237). ICC showed excellent (0.96) inter-operator agreement and Bland–Altman plot demonstrated no systematic over/under-estimation of spleen stiffness values. Conclusions Our results may serve as a reference point in the evaluation of SS especially in patients affected by advanced liver disease.