Heart failure & cardiomyopathiesDiagnostic or prognostic study
Validation of shear wave elastography for assessing myocardial fibrosis in patients with end-stage heart failure
- Validation study
- age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects
Authors' conclusion
Shear wave velocities from SWE correlate with CVF. SWE therefore hold promise as a novel non-invasive method for assessing myocardial fibrosis.
Study context
- Population
- Heart failure patients listed for heart transplantation and healthy control subjectsheart failure patients 16 · healthy control subjects 16
- Participants
- 16 vs 16
- Comparison
- Septal shear wave velocities were compared with septal collagen volume fraction (CVF) in explanted hearts
- heart failure patientsn = 16
- healthy control subjectsn = 16
Performance
As reported in the abstract
Mean septal CVF in cardiac explants
Mean septal CVF
17.1 ± 7.6%
Further findings
Association of aortic valve closure (AVC) and mitral valve closure (MVC) wave velocities with septal CVF
- AVC wave, Spearman's correlation of mean septal values
- ρ = 0.75, P = 0.02
- MVC wave, Spearman's correlation of mean septal values
- ρ = 0.65, P = 0.03
- AVC wave, linear mixed-effects regression by septal region
- β = 2.2, 95% CI [0.7, 3.8], P = 0.004
- MVC wave, linear mixed-effects regression by septal region
- β = 1.5, 95% CI [0.4, 2.5], P = 0.005
Feasibility of shear wave measurement
- Shear waves could be measured in most patients but were limited by patient factors such as prosthetic valves and left ventricular assist devices
Original publication
Validation of shear wave elastography for assessing myocardial fibrosis in patients with end-stage heart failure. Eur Heart J Cardiovasc Imaging. Published 6 January 2026. doi:10.1093/ehjci/jeaf375
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it