Ultrasound Elastography of the Median Nerve in Patients With Acromegaly: A Case-Control Study

Abstract

Objectives The aim of this study was to compare the cross-sectional area and ultrasound elastographic findings of the median nerve of patients with acromegaly and healthy participants. Methods The acromegaly group comprised 15 patients with a previous diagnosis of acromegaly, and an age- and sex-matched control group included healthy participants. Strain elastographic and shear wave elastographic findings and the cross-sectional areas of the groups were compared. A 6-15-MHz multifrequency transducer was used for ultrasound evaluations. Results A total of 30 hands of 15 patients with acromegaly (7 male and 8 female) with a mean ageSD of 50.00 +/- 10.17 years and 40 hands of 20 healthy control participants (9 male and 11 female) with a mean age of 49.50 +/- 10.17 years were taken into consideration for statistical analyses. The cross-sectional area of the patients with acromegaly was significantly higher than that of the healthy controls (13.43 +/- 3.12 versus 8.32 +/- 1.94mm(2); P<.05). Median nerve stiffness was significantly increased in the acromegaly group compared with the control group (axial and longitudinal, 37.15 +/- 6.4 and 37.0 +/- 6.19 versus 18.7 +/- 4.1 and 19.2 +/- 3.58 kPa, respectively; P<.001). Conclusions These preliminary results have demonstrated that patients with acromegaly seem to have increased stiffness and cross-sectional area of the median nerve compared with healthy participants.