EVALUATION OF SHEAR WAVE ELASTOGRAPHY TO ASSESS CANINE LENS STIFFNESS IN AGING SUBJECTS AND IN CASE OF CATARACT

Introduction / Purpose: 2-D shear wave elastography is a widely applied tool to asses tissue mechanical properties in healthy and diseased organs. This study aimed to investigate the possibility to assess the progressive lens age-related stiffness compared to lenses affected by cataract in dogs. Methods: Dogs were divided in four groups (group 1 <1.5 years, group 2 range 1.5-7 years, group 3 >7 years and group 4 dogs with cataract respectively) after a complete clinical and ophtalmological examination with owner consent. Trans-corneal B-mode US and elastography were performed under physical restraint with a Logiq S8 (GE Healthcare) and a linear probe (9L/10 MHz) with a 2-D shear wave elastography software. Triplicate kPa and m/s measurements were collected, and statistical analysis was performed with MATLAB 2020a. Results: 44 dogs were included (mean age group 1 0.37±0.07 years, group 2 4±1.8 years, group 3 11.3±1.3 years and group 4 9.7±5.1 years). Mean stiffness expressed in m/s and kPa was respectively 3.1±0.5 and 28.9±9.2 for group 1, 4.6±0.6 and 65±18.4 for group 2, 6.46±0.36 and 126±14.6 for group 3, 5.83±0.7 and 103±24 for group 4. Significant differences (P<0.05) were evidenced between all the 4 groups for both m/s and kPa measurements. Discussion / Conclusion: These preliminary results evidence that 2-D shear wave elastography is a feasible tool to assess agerelated stiffness change in aging dogs and in case of cataract; wider groups of dogs affected by different types of cataract are needed to assess different grades of stiffness related to the underlying cataract etiology.