Ultrasound Elastography for Liver and Spleen in Diagnosing Myeloproliferative Diseases and Myelofibrosis

This study aimed to assess the differences in spleen and liver stiffness between patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) and healthy individuals using shear wave elastography (SWE). Myeloproliferative diseases, including Myelofibrosis (MF), Polycythemia Vera (PV), and Essential Thrombocythemia (ET), are associated with bone marrow fibrosis, which correlates with increased tissue stiffness. Vibration-Controlled Transient Elastography (VCTE) and other SWE techniques, such as point SWE (pSWE) and two-dimensional SWE (2DSWE), were utilized to measure spleen and liver stiffness. The study included 218 subjects, of which 143 had MPNs (64 with MF, 33 with PV, and 46 with ET) and 75 were healthy controls. Results indicated that patients with MF had significantly higher spleen stiffness compared to healthy individuals, with pSWE values of 40.9 kPa versus 26.3 kPa and 2DSWE values of 34.9 kPa versus 20.1 kPa. Similarly, liver stiffness was elevated in MF patients, with pSWE values of 7.72 kPa compared to 5.52 kPa in healthy volunteers and 2DSWE values of 6.96 kPa versus 5.01 kPa. In addition, a higher grade of bone marrow fibrosis (grades 2–3) was associated with increased liver and spleen stiffness compared to lower fibrosis grades (0–1). These findings suggest that liver and spleen stiffness, measured via elastography, can serve as a non-invasive marker for assessing fibrosis severity in patients with MPNs and could help distinguish between different subtypes of the disease.