Diagnostic Value of Shear Wave Elastography in Primary Sjögren's Syndrome

ObjectiveTo investigate the diagnostic value of shear wave elastography in primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS).

Methods50 patients with an initial diagnosis of pSS were collected and divided into a negative group and a positive group based on the pathological results of the labial gland.Another 94 healthy volunteers in the same period were selected as the control group.The Young's modulus values of the parotid gland shear wave elastic imaging were measured and compared among three study subjects.The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was plotted, and the diagnostic threshold and diagnostic efficacy of the Young's modulus of the parotid gland in pSS patients were calculated.

ResultsAmong the 50 patients, 17 had negative lip gland pathology and 33 had positive lip gland pathology.There was no statistically significant difference in Young's modulus, Emin, Emax, and SD between the lip gland pathology negative group and the control group (P>0.05), but the Emean value was higher than the control group (P < 0.05).The above four indicators in the lip gland pathology positive group were higher than those in the control group and lip gland pathology negative group (P < 0.01).Using Emean=18.38 kPa as the diagnostic threshold for pSS, the AUC was 0.874 (95%CI: 0.799-0.950), the sensitivity was 74%, the specificity was 99%, and the Youden's index was 0.729; using Emax=20.55 kPa as the diagnostic threshold, AUC was 0.863 (95%CI: 0.785-0.941), sensitivity was 80%, specificity was 88%, and the Youden's index was 0.683.

ConclusionsThe sensitivity of shear wave elastography in the diagnosis of pSS is higher than that of labial gland pathology, and it is helpful for the diagnosis of pSS.