Experience of using shear wave elastography in evaluation of testicular stiffness in cases of male infertility
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Experience of using shear wave elastography in evaluation of testicular stiffness in cases of male infertility Hasan Erdoğan1 · Mehmet Sedat Durmaz2 · Bora Özbakır3 · Hakan Cebeci4 · Deniz Özkan1 · İbrahim Erdem Gökmen5 Received: 25 November 2019 / Accepted: 17 January 2020 © Società Italiana di Ultrasonologia in Medicina e Biologia (SIUMB) 2020
Abstract Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine quantitative testicular tissue stiffness values in normal and infertile men using shear wave elastography (SWE), and to evaluate the relationship between infertility and testicular stiffness value. Methods In total, 100 testes of 50 infertile patients with abnormal semen parameters were classified as group A, and 100 testes of 50 control subjects were classified as group B. These two groups were compared in terms of age, testicular volume, and SWE values. The group B testes were randomly chosen from patients who had applied for ultrasonography for any reason, and who had no testis disease and no history of infertility. Results The mean age of the patients was 27.83 years, and no significant difference in age was found between the groups (P = 0.133). No significant difference in testicular volume was found between the groups (P = 0.672). The SWE values were significantly higher in group A than in group B (P = 0.000 for both m/s and kPa values). SWE values had a negative correlation with mean testicular volume in group A (for m/s values: P = 0.043; for kPa values: P = 0.024). Conclusion SWE can be a useful technique for assessing testicular stiffness in infertile patients to predict parenchymal damage in testicular tissue that leads to an abnormality in sperm quantity. In addition, decreased testicular volume, together with increased SWE values, can reflect the degree of parenchymal damage. Keywords Shear wave elastography · Testis · Male infertility · Ultrasonography
Introduction Infertility is defined as the inability to achieve a clinical pregnancy after at least 1 year of regular, unprotected sex. Infertility affects 15–20% of couples. The male factor is estimated to be present in approximately 50% of cases. About 40–50% of all male infertility cases have a sperm defect * Hasan Erdoğan [email protected] 1
Department of Radiology, Aksaray University Training and Research Hospital, 68200 Aksaray, Turkey
2
Department of Radiology, University of Health Sciences Konya Training and Research Hospital, 42130 Konya, Turkey
3
Department of Radiology, Isparta City Hospital, 32200 Isparta, Turkey
4
Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Selcuk University, 42130 Konya, Turkey
5
Department of Radiology, Isparta Private Hospital, 32200 Isparta, Turkey
as the main cause [1]. Semen analysis can reflect testicular function and parenchymal damage [2]. Ultrasonography (US) is a clinically acceptable, non-invasive tool used in the assessment of male infertility [3]. Shear wave elastography (SWE) is a new ultrasound modality that provides quantitative information on tissues ac
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