Assessing liver fibrosis in chronic liver disease: Comparison of diffusion-weighted MR elastography and two-dimensional shear-wave elastography using histopathologic assessment as the reference standard.

Introduction And Objectives: Liver stiffness measurement (LSM) by two-dimensional shear-wave elastography (2D SWE) is a well-established method for assessing hepatic fibrosis. Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) can be converted into virtual shear modulus (µ) to estimate liver elasticity. The purpose of this study was to correlate and compare the diagnostic performance of DWI-based virtual elastography and 2D SWE for staging hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease, using histopathologic assessment as the reference standard.