The evaluation of renal parenchyma with strain elastography in glomerülonephritis patients

Objective: Elastography is a new ultrasound-based technique able to assess tissue elasticity. The aims of this study were to evaluate the renal parenchyma with elastography in patients with glomerülonephritis and to determine the association between strain index and patients’ laboratory parameters. Material and Method: Twenty-three patients (13 men, 13 women; mean age 41.67 ± 13.4 years) with glomerülonephritis and 20 sex and age-matched healthy controls were enrolled in this study. Estimated glomerüler filtration rate (eGFR), serum creatinine, spot urine protein, spot urine creatinine, spot urine protein/creatinine ratio were recorded in patients with glomerülonephritis. Elastography examinations of renal paranchyma were performed for all participants and the strain ratio values were measured. Results: The right and left strain index values were significantly higher in patients with glomerülonephritis than in controls (right; 3.89±0.82 vs. 3.39±0.78 p=0.038, left; 3.94±0.69 vs. 3.24±0.81 p=0.003, respectively). The strain index scores did not showed any significant correlation with eGFR, serum creatinine, spot urine protein, spot urine creatinine, spot urine protein/creatinine ratio (for all, p？ 0.05). On ROC curve analysis based on strain ratio values of the patient and control groups, the cut-off value for the diagnosis of glomerülonefritis was 3.8, with a sensitivity of 61.5% and a specificity of 85%. Conclusions: Strain index of elastography can be used to differentiate patients with glomerülonefritis from healthy individuals