Abstract

Though widely used to assess pathological scars, the modified Vancouver Scar Scale (mVSS) is neither convenient nor objective. Shear wave elastography (SWE) is used to evaluate the stiffness of pathological scars. We aimed to determine the correlation between mVSS score and elastic modulus (EM) measured by SWE for pathological scars. Clinical information including ultrasound (US) results of the enrolled patients with pathological scars was analyzed. The clinical severity of the pathological scars was evaluated by mVSS. Skin stiffness, as represented by EM, was calculated using SWE. The average EM of the whole scar (EMWHOLE), hardest part of the scar (EMHARDEST), and normal appearance of the skin around the scar (EMNORMAL) were also recorded. Enrolled in this study were 69 pathological scars, including 28 hypertrophic scars and 41 keloids. The univariable regression analyses showed that the EM of pathological scars was closely related to mVSS score, while the linear multivariable regression analyses showed no significantly correlation. Curve fitting and threshold effect analysis revealed that when EMWHOLE was less than 166.6 kPa or EMHARDEST was less than 133.07 kPa, EM was positively correlated with mVSS score. In stratified analysis, there was no significant linear correlation and threshold effect between EMWHOLE and mVSS score in hypertrophic scars or keloids. However, the fully adjusted smooth curves presented a linear association between mVSS score and EMHARDEST in keloids (the adjusted β [95% CI] was 0.010 [0.001, 0.018]), but a threshold and nonlinear association were found in hypertrophic scars. When EMHARDEST was less than 156.13 kPa, the mVSS score increased along with the hardest scar part stiffness; the adjusted β (95% CI) was 0.024 (0.009, 0.038). In conclusion, EM of pathological scars measured by SWE were correlated with mVSS within a threshold range, and showed different association patterns in hypertrophic scars and keloids.

Details

Title
Correlation between elastic modulus and clinical severity of pathological scars: a cross-sectional study
Author
Hang Jing 1 ; Chen, Jie 2 ; Zhang, Weixin 1 ; Yuan, Tao 1 ; Xu, Yang 3 ; Zhou Bingrong 3 

 The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Department of Ultrasound, Nanjing, China (GRID:grid.412676.0) (ISNI:0000 0004 1799 0784) 
 Nanjing Hospital of Chinese Medicine Affiliated to Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Department of Ultrasound, Nanjing, China (GRID:grid.410745.3) (ISNI:0000 0004 1765 1045) 
 The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Department of Dermatology, Nanjing, China (GRID:grid.412676.0) (ISNI:0000 0004 1799 0784) 
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2605423879
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.