New elastographic techniques such as poroelastography and viscoelasticity imaging aim at imaging the temporal mechanical behavior of tissues. These techniques usually involve the use of curve fitting methods as applied to noisy data to estimate new elastographic parameters. As of today, however, image quality performance of these new elastographic imaging techniques is still largely unknown due to a paucity of data and the lack of systematic studies that analyze performance limitations of estimators suitable for these novel applications. Furthermore, current elastographic implementations of poroelasticity and viscoelasticity imaging methods are in general too slow and not optimized for clinical applications. In this paper, we propose a new elastographic time constant (TC) estimator, which is based on the use of the Least Square Error (LSE) curve-fitting method and the Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) optimization rule as applied to noisy elastographic data obtained from a tissue under creep compression. The estimator's performance is analyzed using simulations and quantified in terms of accuracy, precision, sensitivity, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and speed. Experiments are performed as a proof of principle of the technical applicability of the new estimator on real experimental data. The results of this study demonstrate that the new elastographic estimator described in this thesis can produce highly accurate, sensitive and precise time constant estimates in real-time and at high SNR. In the future, the use of this estimator could allow real-time imaging of the temporal behavior of complex tissues and provide advances in lymphedema and cancer imaging.

Cancer has been one of main causes of human deaths for many years. Early detection of cancer is essential to provide definitive treatment. Among many cancer treatment methods, nanoparticle-mediated photothermal therapy is considered as one of the promising cancer treatment methods because of its non-invasiveness and cancer-specific therapy. Ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging can be utilized for both cancer detection and photothermal therapy guidance. Ultrasound elasticity imaging can detect cancer using tissue elastic properties. Once cancer is diagnosed, spectroscopic photoacoustic imaging can be used to monitor nanoparticle delivery before photothermal therapy. When nanoparticles are well accumulated at the tumor, ultrasound and photoacoustic-based thermal imaging can be utilized for estimating temperature distribution during photothermal therapy to guide therapeutic procedure. In this dissertation, ultrasound beamforming, elasticity imaging, and spectroscopic photoacoustic imaging methods were developed to improve cancer detection and therapy guidance. Firstly, a display pixel based synthetic aperture focusing method was developed to fundamentally improve ultrasound image qualities. Secondly, an autocorrelation based sub-pixel displacement estimation method was developed to enhance signal-to-noise ratio of elasticity images. The developed elasticity imaging method was utilized to clinically evaluate the feasibility of using ultrasound elasticity imaging for prostate cancer detection. Lastly, a minimum mean square error based spectral separation method was developed to robustly utilize spectroscopic photoacoustic imaging. The developed spectroscopic photoacoustic imaging method was utilized to demonstrate ultrasound and photoacoustic image-guided photothermal cancer therapy using in-vivo tumor-bearing mouse models. The results of these studies suggest that ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging can assist both cancer detection and therapy guidance. / text

<p>Implemented on an intracardiac echocardiography transducer, acoustic radiation force methods may provide a useful means of characterizing the heart's elastic properties. Elasticity imaging may be of benefit for diagnosis and characterization of infarction and heart failure, as well as for guidance of ablation therapy for the treatment of arrhythmias. This thesis tests the hypothesis that with appropriately designed imaging sequences, intracardiac acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging and shear wave elasticity imaging (SWEI) are viable tools for quantification of myocardial elasticity, both temporally and spatially. Multiple track location SWEI (MTL-SWEI) is used to show that, in healthy in vivo porcine ventricles, shear wave speeds follow the elasticity changes with contraction and relaxation of the myocardium, varying between 0.9 and 2.2 m/s in diastole and 2.6 and 5.1 m/s in systole. Infarcted tissue is less contractile following infarction, though not unilaterally stiffer. Single-track-location SWEI (STL-SWEI) is proven to provide suppression of speckle noise and enable improved resolution of structures smaller than 2 mm in diameter compared to ARFI and MTL-SWEI. Contrast to noise ratio and lateral edge resolution are shown to vary with selection of time step for ARFI and arrival time regression filter size for STL-SWEI and MTL-SWEI. </p><p>In 1.5 mm targets, STL-SWEI achieves alternately the tightest resolution (0.3 mm at CNR = 3.5 for a 0.17 mm filter) and highest CNR (8.5 with edge width = 0.7 mm for a 0.66 mm filter) of the modalities, followed by ARFI and then MTL-SWEI.</p><p>In larger, 6 mm targets, the CNR-resolution tradeoff curves for ARFI and STL-SWEI overlap for ARFI time steps up to 0.5 ms and kernels $\leq$1 mm for STL-SWEI. STL-SWEI can operate either with a 25 dB improvement over MTL-SWEI in CNR at the same resolution, or with edge widths 5$\times$ as narrow at equivalent CNR values, depending on the selection of regression filter size. Ex vivo ablations are used to demonstrate that ARFI, STL-SWEI and MTL-SWEI each resolve ablation lesions between 0.5 and 1 cm in diameter and gaps between lesions smaller than 5 mm in 3-D scans. Differences in contrast, noise, and resolution between the modalities are discussed. All three modalities are also shown to resolve ``x''-shaped ablations up to 22 mm in depth with good visual fidelity and correspondence to surface photographs, with STL-SWEI providing the highest quality images. Series of each type of image, registered using 3-D data from an electroanatomical mapping system, are used to build volumes that show ablations in in vivo canine atria. In vivo images are shown to be subject to increased noise due to tissue and transducer motion, and the challenges facing the proposed system are discussed. Ultimately, intracardiac acoustic radiation force methods are demonstrated to be promising tools for characterizing dynamic myocardial elasticity and imaging radiofrequency ablation lesions.</p> / Dissertation

Uncertainty in the sizing of breast cancer masses is a major issue in breast screening programs, as there is a tendency to severely underestimate the sizing of malignant masses, especially with ultrasound imaging as part of the standard triple assessment. Due to this issue about 20% of all surgically treated women have to undergo a second resection, therefore the aim of this thesis is to address this issue by developing novel image analysis methods. Ultrasound elasticity imaging has been proven to have a better ability to differentiate soft tissues compared to standard B-mode. Thus a novel segmentation algorithm is presented, employing elasticity imaging to improve the sizing of malignant breast masses in ultrasound. The main contributions of this work are the introduction of a novel filtering technique to significantly improve the quality of the B-mode image, the development of a segmentation algorithm and their application to an ongoing clinical trial. Due to the limitations of the employed ultrasound device, the development of a method to improve the contrast and signal to noise ratio of B-mode images was required. Thus, an autoregressive model based filter on the radio-frequency signal is presented which is able to reduce the misclassification error on a phantom by up to 90% compared to the employed device, achieving similar results to a state-of-the art ultrasound system. By combining the output of this filter with elasticity data into a region based segmentation framework, a computationally highly efficient segmentation algorithm using Graph-cuts is presented. This method is shown to successfully and reliably segment objects on which previous highly cited methods have failed. Employing this method on 18 cases from a clinical trial, it is shown that the mean absolute error is reduced by 2 mm, and the bias of the B-Mode sizing to underestimate the size was overcome. Furthermore, the ability to detect widespread DCIS is demonstrated.

<p>Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for developed countries, including the United States. In order to diagnose and detect certain cardiac diseases, it is necessary to assess myocardial performance and function. One mechanical property that has been shown to reflect myocardial performance is myocardial stiffness. Acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging has been demonstrated to be capable of visualizing variations in local stiffness within soft tissue. </p><p>In this thesis, the initial investigations into the visualization of myocardial performance with ARFI imaging are presented. <italic>In vivo</italic> ARFI images were acquired with a linear array placed on exposed <italic>canine</italic> hearts. When co-registered with the electrocardiogram (ECG), ARFI images of the heart reflected the expected changes in myocardial stiffness through the cardiac cycle. With the implementation of a quadratic motion filter, motion artifacts within the ARFI images were reduced to below 1.5 &mu m at all points of the cardiac cycle. The inclusion of pre-excitation displacement estimates in the quadratic motion filter further reduced physiological motion artifacts at all points of the cardiac cycle to below 0.5 &mu m. </p><p>In order for cardiac ARFI imaging to more quantitatively assess myocardial performance, novel ARFI imaging sequences and methods were developed to address challenges specifically related to cardiac imaging. These improvements provided finer sampling and improved spatial and temporal resolution within the ARFI images. <italic>In vivo</italic> epicardial ARFI images of an <italic>ovine</italic> heart were formed using these sequences, and the quality and utility of the resultant ARFI-induced displacement curves were examined.</p><p><italic>In vivo</italic> cardiac ARFI images were formed of <italic>canine</italic> left ventricular free walls while the hearts were externally paced by one of two electrodes positioned epicardially on either side of the imaging plane. Directions and speeds of myocardial stiffness propagation were measured within the ARFI imaging field of view. In all images, the myocardial stiffness waves were seen to be traveling away from the stimulating electrode. The stiffness propagation velocities were also shown to be consistent with propagation velocities measured from elastography and tissue velocity imaging as well as the local epicardial ECG.</p><p>ARFI-induced displacement curves of an <italic>ovine</italic> heart were formed and temporally registered with left ventricular pressure and volume measurements. From these plots, the synchronization of myocardial stiffening and relaxation with the four phases (isovolumic contraction, ejection, isovolumic relaxation, and filling) of the cardiac cycle was determined. These ARFI imaging sequences were also used to correlate changes in left ventricular performance with changes in myocardial stiffness. These preliminary results indicated that changes in the ARFI imaging-derived stiffnesses were consistent with those predicted by current, clinically accepted theories of myocardial performance and function.</p><p>These results demonstrate the ability of ARFI imaging to visualize changes in myocardial stiffness through the cardiac cycle and its feasibility to provide clinically useful insight into myocardial performance.</p> / Dissertation

Posterior tibial tendon dysfunction (PTTD) is a common degenerative condition leading to a severe impairment of gait. There is currently no effective method to determine whether a patient with advanced PTTD would benefit from several months of bracing and physical therapy or ultimately require surgery. Tendon degeneration is closely associated with irreversible degradation of its collagen structure, leading to changes to its mechanical properties. If these properties could be monitored in vivo, it could be used to quantify the severity of tendonosis and help determine the appropriate treatment. Ultrasound elasticity imaging (UEI) is a real-time, noninvasive technique to objectively measure mechanical properties in soft tissue. It consists of acquiring a sequence of ultrasound frames and applying speckle tracking to estimate displacement and strain at each pixel. The goals of my dissertation were to 1) use acoustic simulations to investigate the performance of UEI during tendon deformation with different geometries; 2) develop and validate UEI as a potentially noninvasive technique for quantifying tendon mechanical properties in human cadaver experiments; 3) design a platform for UEI to measure mechanical properties of the PTT in vivo and determine whether there are detectable and quantifiable differences between healthy and diseased tendons. First, ultrasound simulations of tendon deformation were performed using an acoustic modeling program. The effects of different tendon geometries (cylinder and curved cylinder) on the performance of UEI were investigated. Modeling results indicated that UEI accurately estimated the strain in the cylinder geometry, but underestimated in the curved cylinder. The simulation also predicted that the out-of-the-plane motion of the PTT would cause a non-uniform strain pattern within incompressible homogeneous isotropic material. However, to average within a small region of interest determined by principal component analysis (PCA) would improve the estimation. Next, UEI was performed on five human cadaver feet mounted in a materials testing system (MTS) while the PTT was attached to a force actuator. A portable ultrasound scanner collected 2D data during loading cycles. Young's modulus was calculated from the strain, loading force and cross sectional area of the PTT. Average Young's modulus for the five tendons was (0.45±0.16GPa) using UEI. This was consistent with simultaneous measurements made by the MTS across the whole tendon (0.52±0.18GPa). We also calculated the scaling factor (0.12±0.01) between the load on the PTT and the inversion force at the forefoot, a measurable quantity in vivo. This study suggests that UEI could be a reliable in vivo technique for estimating the mechanical properties of the human PTT. Finally, we built a custom ankle inversion platform for in vivo imaging of human subjects (eight healthy volunteers and nine advanced PTTD patients). We found non-linear elastic properties of the PTTD, which could be quantified by the slope between the elastic modulus (E) and the inversion force (F). This slope (ΔE/ΔF), or Non-linear Elasticity Parameter (NEP), was significantly different for the two groups: 0.16±0.20 MPa/N for healthy tendons and 0.45±0.43 MPa/N for PTTD tendons. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve revealed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.83±0.07, which indicated that the classifier system is valid. In summary, the acoustic modeling, cadaveric studies, and in vivo experiments together demonstrated that UEI accurately quantifies tendon mechanical properties. As a valuable clinical tool, UEI also has the potential to help guide treatment decisions for advanced PTTD and other tendinopathies.

Abstract not available. / by Wong Lai-hung, Grace. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 72-04, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 218-252). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.

<p>The rupture of arterial plaques is the most common cause of ischemic complications including stroke, the fourth leading cause of death and number one cause of long term disability in the United States. Unfortunately, because conventional diagnostic tools fail to identify plaques that confer the highest risk, often a disabling stroke and/or sudden death is the first sign of disease. A diagnostic method capable of characterizing plaque vulnerability would likely enhance the predictive ability and ultimately the treatment of stroke before the onset of clinical events.</p><p>This dissertation evaluates the hypothesis that Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse (ARFI) imaging can noninvasively identify lipid regions, that have been shown to increase a plaque's propensity to rupture, within carotid artery plaques <italic>in vivo</italic>. The work detailed herein describes development efforts and results from simulations and experiments that were performed to evaluate this hypothesis.</p><p>To first demonstrate feasibility and evaluate potential safety concerns, finite-element method simulations are used to model the response of carotid artery plaques to an acoustic radiation force excitation. Lipid pool visualization is shown to vary as a function of lipid pool geometry and stiffness. A comparison of the resulting Von Mises stresses indicates that stresses induced by an ARFI excitation are three orders of magnitude lower than those induced by blood pressure. This thesis also presents the development of a novel pulse inversion harmonic tracking method to reduce clutter-imposed errors in ultrasound-based tissue displacement estimates. This method is validated in phantoms and was found to reduce bias and jitter displacement errors for a marked improvement in image quality <italic>in vivo</italic>. Lastly, this dissertation presents results from a preliminary <italic>in vivo</italic> study that compares ARFI imaging derived plaque stiffness with spatially registered composition determined by a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) gold standard in human carotid artery plaques. It is shown in this capstone experiment that lipid filled regions in MRI correspond to areas of increased displacement in ARFI imaging while calcium and loose matrix components in MRI correspond to uniformly low displacements in ARFI imaging.</p><p>This dissertation provides evidence to support that ARFI imaging may provide important prognostic and diagnostic information regarding stroke risk via measurements of plaque stiffness. More generally, the results have important implications for all acoustic radiation force based imaging methods used clinically.</p> / Dissertation

BACKGROUND: Sepsis is a clinical syndrome characterised by the systemic response to infection. It is a common problem in modern intensive care units and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Though the underlying cause of death is often multifactorial, refractory hypotension and cardiovascular collapse are frequently observed in the terminal phases of the condition. The aetiology of these cardiovascular abnormalities is complex but appears to be mediated by a circulating factor(s). The impact of sepsis upon left ventricular systolic function has been studied extensively. This may be because it is more readily assessed than diastolic function. Despite being increasingly appreciated as a contributor to morbidity and mortality in other clinical settings, there are scant data regarding the evaluation of left ventricular diastolic function in sepsis. Review of the haemodynamic monitoring literature reveals that many conventional measures of left ventricular filling, intravascular volume status and fluid responsiveness are influenced by ventricular diastolic (dys)function, such that interpretation can be challenging in critical care settings. In addition, many available techniques, such as pulmonary artery catheterisation, are invasive and potentially associated with risk to the patient. More robust and less invasive measures of left ventricular diastolic function and filling that can be applied within the intensive care unit (ICU) must be developed. The use of cardiac biomarkers, such as B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), might represent a novel approach to evaluating left ventricular diastolic function and filling. BNP is released by the myocardium in response to wall stretch/tension. It has demonstrated value in the emergency department diagnosis of heart failure but interpretation of plasma BNP concentrations in critical care remains problematic. At least in part, this appears to relate to the significant number of potential confounders in patients with critical illness. Associations between BNP concentration and diastolic function have not previously been evaluated in severe sepsis and septic shock. The overall aim of this thesis is to investigate the usefulness of plasma BNP concentration in the evaluation of left ventricular diastolic function (including ventricular filling) in severe sepsis and septic shock. DIASTOLIC (DYS)FUNCTION IN SEPSIS: Review of the literature reveals that sepsis is associated with a spectrum of diastolic dysfunction. Characterisation of diastolic function in sepsis is challenging. In this regard, tissue Doppler imaging (TDI), offers promise. TDI is an echocardiographic technique that measures myocardial velocities, which are low frequency, high-amplitude signals filtered from conventional Doppler imaging. TDI has gained acceptance amongst cardiologists in the evaluation of diastolic function, particularly as a measure of ventricular relaxation and ventricular filling pressure; however, there are scant data regarding its use in critical care. We analysed echocardiographs from a large heterogeneous cohort of consecutive ICU patients (n=94) who had TDI as part of their clinically requested echocardiography. As well as supporting the feasibility of TDI in critically ill and mechanically ventilated patients, we demonstrated a wide range of TDI variables and a high prevalence of diastolic dysfunction using this modality. RODENT MODELS OF SEPSIS: We also sought to adapt, refine and evaluate rodent models of sepsis. Such models would allow control for a multitude of potential confounders commonly encountered in clinical sepsis. Two commonly employed rodent models of sepsis include caecal ligation and perforation (CLP) and endotoxin infusion. Comparison between CLP, sham and control groups demonstrated no difference in TDI or BNP. The observed changes in echocardiographic diastolic variables did not reflect those expected in sepsis and may be best explained by increases in heart rate rather than diastolic dysfunction per se. Endotoxaemia was associated with changes consistent with impaired myocardial relaxation (TDI) and reversible myocardial injury (histopathology), as expected in sepsis. BNP did not change significantly from baseline. This might be explained by the potential influence of fluid management upon BNP secretion. CLINICAL RESEARCH: The prediction of fluid responsiveness potentially prevents ineffective, excessive or deleterious intravenous fluid administration. Prospective evaluation of plasma BNP concentration in patients with septic shock found that it was not a predictor of a fluid responsive state. Furthermore, elevated BNP did not rule out a favourable response and therefore does not contraindicate a fluid challenge. Both impaired diastolic dysfunction, especially E/e’, and elevated BNP, have been associated with excess mortality in a range of cardiovascular diseases. These have not previously been compared in septic shock. In a cohort of patients with septic shock, E/e’ was a stronger predictor of mortality than cardiac biomarkers, including BNP. Fluid balance was an independent predictor of BNP in septic shock. OVERALL CONCLUSION: BNP appears not to be clinically useful in the evaluation of ventricular filling or diastolic function in sepsis. The association with fluid balance is a new finding and should be evaluated in a wider range of critically ill patients. In contrast to BNP, TDI appears to be a promising bedside tool in the evaluation of diastolic function and should be further evaluated in critical care.

Introdução: elastografia ultrassônica é um método não invasivo validado e rotineiro para a determinação indireta do grau de fibrose hepática e em investigação para predizer a presença de varizes esofágicas. Entretanto, a elastografia foi validada somente em doenças que evoluem para cirrose. Na revisão de literatura que realizamos, observamos que há escassez de estudos de acurácia diagnóstica em pacientes com hipertensão portal não cirrótica. Objetivos: avaliar a acurácia diagnóstica das técnicas de elastografia hepatoesplênica (transitória por FibroScan e ARFI) para predizer a presença de varizes esofágicas e se as varizes são de risco de sangramento em pacientes com hipertensão portal não cirrótica. Avaliar a concordâncias das duas técnicas e correlacioná-las com outros índices (plaquetas/baço, APRI e FIB-4). Métodos: Foram incluídos pacientes com diagnóstico confirmado das seguintes condições: oclusão da veia porta extra-hepática, esquistossomose mansônica, hipertensão portal não cirrótica idiopática e fibrose hepática congênita. A endoscopia digestiva alta foi considerada como marcador da presença de hipertensão portal clinicamente significante. Critérios de inclusão: idade acima de um ano; diagnóstico etiológico definido; concordância do paciente ou responsável legal em participar do estudo. Critérios de exclusão: cirrose, confirmada pela combinação de critérios diagnósticos clínicos, de imagem e laboratoriais ou pela biópsia hepática quando o resultado estivesse disponível; hipertensão portal pós sinusoidal; condições que impeçam tecnicamente a realização da elastografia (ascite volumosa e insuficiência cardíaca); esplenectomia; gestação; carcinoma hepatocelular avançado. O desenho do estudo foi prospectivo, transversal, de acordo com a metodologia STARD, avaliando a acurácia, sensibilidade, especificidade, valores preditivos positivos e negativos e razões de verossimilhança positiva e negativa. Procedimentos no estudo: consulta aos dados de prontuário; ultrassonografia abdominal e elastografia hepatoesplênica com os equipamentos/métodos FibroScan e ARFI. Os pontos de corte foram determinados por curva ROC. Resultados: os valores de elastografia transitória hepática por FibroScan foram de 5,91 ± 1,87 kPa na oclusão da veia porta extra-hepática, 8,89 ± 3,96 kPa na esquistossomose, 10,60 ± 3,89 kPa na hipertensão portal não cirrótica idiopática e 10,30 ± 4,14 kPa na fibrose hepática congênita, enquanto os valores de ARFI foram de 1,27 ± 0,23 m/s; 1,35 ± 0,45 m/s; 1,43 ± 0,40 m/s; 1,55 ± 0,39 m/s; respectivamente. Os valores de elastografia transitória esplênica por FibroScan foram de 60,82 ± 20,56 kPa na oclusão da veia porta extra-hepática, 54,16 ± 22,94 kPa na esquistossomose, 52,64 kPa ± 21,97 kPa na hipertensão portal não cirrótica idiopática e 48,50 ± 24,86 kPa na fibrose hepática congênita, enquanto os valores de ARFI foram de 3,22 ± 0,62 m/s; 3,01 ± 0,74 m/s; 2,86 ± 0,53 m/s; 2,80 ± 0,55 m/s; respectivamente. A elastografia esplênica por FibroScan com ponto de corte 65,1 kPa apresentou acurácia de 0,62 (intervalo de confiança 95% 0,46-0,78; p=0,121) para presença de varizes. Para predizer varizes de alto risco de sangramento, o melhor ponto de corte foi 40,05 kPa, que apresentou acurácia de 0,63 (intervalo de confiança 95% 0,52-0,76; p=0,016). A elastografia esplênica ARFI com ponto de corte de 2,67m/s apresentou acurácia de 0,64 (intervalo de confiança 95%, 0,50-0,78; p=0,065) para presença de varizes. O melhor ponto de corte para predizer varizes de alto risco de sangramento com esse método foi de 3,17m/s, que apresentou acurácia de 0,61 (intervalo de confiança 95%, 0,51- 0,71; p=0,033). Conclusões: métodos de elastografia esplênica apresentaram uma acurácia moderada e valor preditivo positivo elevado para diagnosticar presença de varizes. A elastografia transitória esplênica por FibroScan quando associada à razão plaqueta/baço apresentou acurácia moderada com especificidade alta para predizer varizes de alto risco de sangramento. Entretanto, considerável superposição de valores foi observada entre pacientes com e sem varizes esofagianas, o que limita a aplicação a utilidade clínica do método / Background and rationale: transient elastography is a noninvasive, validated, method allowing evaluation of liver fibrosis by measurement of liver stiffness and under investigation to predict the presence of esophageal varices. However, elastography has been validated only in diseases that progress to cirrhosis. In a literature review we found few studies on diagnostic accuracy in patients with non-cirrhotic portal hypertension. Aims: to evaluate the accuracy of hepatosplenic elastography (FibroScan and ARFI) to predict the presence of esophageal varices and whether varices are at risk of bleeding in patients with non-cirrhotic portal hypertension. To evaluate the concordances of the two techniques and correlate them with other indexes such as the platelet /spleen diameter ratio, APRI and FIB-4. Methods: patients with confirmed diagnosis of the following conditions were included: extrahepatic portal vein occlusion, schistosomiasis, idiopathic non-cirrhotic portal hypertension and congenital hepatic fibrosis. Upper digestive endoscopy was considered as a marker of the presence of clinically significant portal hypertension. Inclusion criteria: age above one year; defined etiological diagnosis; agreement of the patient or legal guardian to participate in the study. Exclusion criteria: cirrhosis confirmed by combination of clinical, imaging and laboratory diagnostic criteria or by liver biopsy when the result was available; post sinusoidal portal hypertension; conditions that technically preclude the performance of elastography (massive ascites and heart failure); splenectomy; pregnancy; advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. The study design was prospective, transversal, according to the STARD methodology, evaluating the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and positive and negative likelihood ratios. The procedures of the study were: review of medical records data, abdominal ultrasonography and hepatosplenic elastography with FibroScan and ARFI equipment / methods. Cut-off points for elastography were determined by ROC curves. Results: liver stiffness measurement by FibroScan were 5.91 ± 1.87 kPa in extrahepatic portal vein occlusion, 8.89 ± 3.96 kPa in schistosomiasis, 10.60 ± 3.89 kPa in portal hypertension non-cirrhotic idiopathic and 10.30 ± 4.14 kPa in congenital hepatic fibrosis, whereas by ARFI were 1.27 ± 0.23 m/s; 1.35 ± 0.45 m/s; 1.43 ± 0.40 m/s; 1.55 ± 0.39 m/s; respectively. Spleen stiffness measurement by FibroScan were 60.82 ± 20.56 kPa in extrahepatic portal vein occlusion, 54.16 ± 22.94 kPa in schistosomiasis, 52.64 ± 21.97 kPa in idiopathic non-cirrhotic portal hypertension, and 48.50 ± 24.86 kPa in congenital hepatic fibrosis, while by ARFI were 3.22 ± 0.62 m/s; 3.01 ± 0.74 m/s; 2.86 ± 0.53 m/s; 2.80 ± 0.55 m/s; respectively. Liver stiffness measurement by FibroScan with a cut-off of 65.1 kPa had an accuracy of 0.62 (95%confidence interval, 0.46-0.78, p=0.121) for the presence of esophageal varices. The best cut-off point for predicting the presence of varices at high risk of bleeding was 40.05 kPa (accuracy, 0.63, 95% confidence interval, 0.52-0.76, p = 0.016). The spleen stiffness measurement by ARFI with a cut-off of 2.67 m/s showed (accuracy, 0.64, 95% confidence interval, 0.50-0.78, p=0.065) for the presence of esophageal varices. The best cut-off point for predicting the presence of varices at high risk of bleeding was 3.17 m/s (accuracy, 0.61, 95% confidence interval, 0.51-0.71, p=0.033) for varices at high risk of bleeding. Conclusions: spleen stiffness measurement by transient elastography (FibroScan and ARFI) presented a moderate accuracy and a high positive predictive value to diagnose the presence of esophageal varices. Spleen stifness by FibroScan when associated with platelet/spleen diameter ratio, there is a moderate accuracy with a high specificity to predict varices at high risk of bleeding. However, overlapping values between patients with or without varices was high and this precludes the clinical applicability of these methods