Renal elastography in kidney disease: Current evidence, limitations, and future directions

Table 1 Comparative summary of shear-wave elastography cutoff values for renal fibrosis across different devices and study populations

Ref.	Population	Device/technique	Diagnostic target	Cutoff (kPa)	AUC	Sensitivity	Specificity
Prasad et al[7], 2026	Chronic glomerulonephritis	2D-SWE (Supersonic Mach 30, Hologic)	Any fibrosis vs none (IF/TA ≥ I)	13.98	0.986	98%	73%
Maralescu et al[45], 2023	Chronic glomerulonephritis	2D-SWE PLUS	Fibrosis vs no fibrosis	< 20.77	0.860	88.89%	75%
Maralescu et al[45], 2023	Chronic glomerulonephritis	2D-SWE PLUS	> 40% fibrosis vs < 40%	< 19.75	0.789	100%	74.29%
Leong et al[3], 2021	CKD (biopsy-proven)	Philips EPIQ 7 (ElastPQ)	Moderate vs mild histologic impairment	5.81	0.702	67.3%	61.5%
Wang et al[43], 2025	CKD	ACUSON Sequoia (Siemens)	Mild vs moderate-severe fibrosis	6.70	0.824	91.5%	59.3%

Cutoff values correspond to the optimal thresholds reported by each study for the specified diagnostic target. Sensitivity and specificity are those reported at the selected cutoff. Differences across studies may reflect variability in device platform, acquisition protocol, fibrosis definition, and study population characteristics. AUC: Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve; CKD: Chronic kidney disease; SWE: Shear-wave elastography; 2D-SWE PLUS: Two-dimensional shear-wave elastography PLUS; IF/TA: Interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy.