Abstract: Objective To investigate the value of elasticity score and strain rate (SR) ratio of ultrasound elastography (UE) in differentiating hepatic nodules. Methods A total of 110 patients with hepatic nodules admitted to our hospital from July 2017 to July 2019 underwent UE. According to the pathology, the patients were divided into benign group and malignant group. The elasticity score and SR value were compared between the 2 groups. The receiver operator characteristic curve was drawn to evaluate the discrimination value of elasticity score and SR value between benign and malignant hepatic nodules. The area under the curve (AUC), the best cut-off value, sensitivity and specificity were determined. The kappa test was used to assess the diagnostic consistency of elasticity score and SR value with pathology. Results Among 110 patients, 67 (60.91%) were benign, including 2 (2.99%) cases of liver abscess, 53 (79.10%) cases of hepatic hemangioma and 12 (17.91%) cases of hepatic hemangioendothelioma. Forty-three (39.09%) cases were malignant, including 32 (74.42%) cases of primary hepatocellular carcinoma, 8 (18.60%) cases of metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma and 3 (6.98%) cases of cholangiocarcinoma. The elasticity scores of benign group and malignant group were (1.63 ± 0.12) and (3.68 ± 0.45), respectively. The SR values of benign group and malignant group were (3.09 ± 1.12) and (10.62 ± 3.75), respectively. The elasticity scores and SR values of benign group were significantly lower than those of malignant group (P<0.05). The AUC of elasticity score, SR value and combination were 0.802, 0.788 and 0.863, respectively. The kappa values of elasticity score, SR value and combination were 0.667, 0.532 and 0.811, respectively. Conclusion The elasticity score and SR value are valuable in the differential diagnosis of hepatic nodules. And the combined application has better accuracy.

Key words: Hepatic nodule, Ultrasound elastography, Strain rate, Elasticity score