Is sonoelastography a helpful method of evaluation to diagnose Sjögren's syndrome?

OBJECTIVE: A new sonoelastography technique - virtual touch tissue quantification of acoustic radiation force impulses (ARFI) - offers a promising method for measuring tissue rigidity. The aim of this study was to assess the usefulness of ARFI for diagnosing Sjögren's syndrome (SS).

METHODS: This transversal prospective study included 41 patients with SS according to American-European Consensus Group (AECG) criteria, and a control group without symptoms. All subjects underwent ARFI high-resolution ultrasound assessment of the parotid glands (PG) and submandibular glands (SMG).

RESULTS: In patients with SS, parotid gland shear wave velocity (SWV) was 2.08 m/s ± 0.55, significantly higher than in control subjects (1.2 m/s ± 0.17) (P = 0.0001); submandibular gland SWV was higher in SS patients (2.12 m/s ± 0.44) than control subjects (1.56 m/s ± 0.16) (P = 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: Acoustic radiation force impulses sonoelastography can assist diagnosis of SS, and is a non-invasive and fast method of detecting pathological changes to the parotid and submandibular glands.