What elastography threshold is considered a good study?

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In elastography, the reliability of a study hinges on having enough valid measurements to give a stable, representative stiffness estimate. If only a tiny fraction of attempts yield usable data, the result becomes driven by noise and artifacts rather than true tissue properties.

Setting a threshold just above 29% means that more than about a third of the measurements must be valid for the study to be considered good. This strikes a balance between inclusivity and quality: it filters out exams with poor data quality without being overly strict. When the valid-measurement rate exceeds this level, the stiffness estimate is more likely to reflect the actual liver tissue and not random variability.

Lower thresholds would admit too much unreliable data, leading to questionable results, while much higher thresholds could exclude many otherwise informative studies.