Study on the repeatability of shear wave elastography in measuring cervical hardness

Abstract:

Objective To assess the repeatability of shear wave elastography（SWE） in the measurement of cervical Young's modulus in healthy childless women of childbearing age.Methods SWE was performed twice on the cervix of 100 healthy childless women of childbearing age on the same day and at different time points by the same senior physician who had received SWE testing training. The cervical Young's modulus value in healthy childless women of childbearing age was obtained by measuring the following four sites of cervix：anterior lip of the inner mouth（IA），posterior lip of the inner mouth（IP），anterior lip of the outer mouth（EA） and posterior lip of the outer mouth（EP）. Interclass correlation coefficient（ICC） was used to evaluate the intra-group repeatability，and Bland-Altman scatter plot was performed to assess the consistency of the measurement.Results There were no statistical significances between the two measurements of the four sites of cervix（P>0.05）. The intra -group correlation coefficients of Young's modulus at IA，EA and EP were 0.828，0.785 and 0.768 respectively，indicating quite satisfactory repeatability. The intra-group correlation coefficient of Young's modulus at IP was 0.632，indicating satisfactory repeatability. And Bland-Altman scatter plot indicated preferable intra-group consistency of Young's modulus measured by SWE at four sites of cervix.Conclusion SWE can be used to measure cervical hardness，and has good repeatability and consistency at different sites of cervix.