AdipoScan™ - A novel transient elastography based tool to assess subcutaneous adipose tissue shear wave speed in morbidly obese patients

Subcutaneous white adipose tissue (scWAT) in human obesity undergoes severe alterations such as fibrosis accumulation. Fibrosis in scWAT is related to metabolic alterations and to less efficiency in losing weight after bariatric surgery. There is currently no non-invasive tool to assess subcutaneous white adipose tissue (scWAT) characteristics. A novel device named AdipoScan™ based on vibration controlled transient elastography (VCTE™) was developed by Echosens so as to assess scWAT shear wave speed (SWS). In the present study, the prototype and how it has been adapted to scWAT SWS evaluation was first described. Repeatability was then assessed in terms of coefficient of variation (CV) with and without repositioning on tissue mimicking phantoms (~1% and 0%, respectively) and in vivo on 41 volunteers (14% and 7%, respectively). Then, scWAT SWS was measured in vivo on 73 morbidly obese patients candidate to bariatric surgery. scWAT SWS is significantly associated with tissue fibrosis, gender, body fat mass assessed by DXA, hypertension status, and biological parameters such as glycemia, lipid profile, hepatic parameters and adiponectin. Results suggest that scWAT evaluation before surgery can be useful in clinical practice to help phenotype obese patients and the stage of adipose tissue alterations.