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

İngilizce (OpenAlex)

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 age ± SD 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 ± 1.94 mm2; 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.