Learning objectives
Sonoelastography (SEL) is a recently developed imaging technique which is able to evaluate the mechanical properties of tissues.
It is based on the principle for which,
applying an extrinsic stress (mechanical or physical),
it is possible to induce changes in a determined tissue,
depending on the elastic properties of the tissue itself; hence,
qualitative and/or quantitative measurements of the elastic changes induced through the tissue could be obtained,
usually by mean of an ultrasound transducer in clinical practice.
The recent diffusion of SEL into commercially...
Background
To date,
SEL has been demonstrated to be a useful method for the assessment of tissue elasticity in various clinical fields,
such as breast,
thyroid,
liver and musculoskeletal imaging.
Despite its variability and its availability on recent US machines,
both strain and shear wave elastography has been widely used and seem to be a promising tool for radiologists in the next years.
ELASTICITY: BASICS PRINCIPLES
The elasticity of a material represents its tendency to resume its original size and shape after being subjected to a...
Findings and procedure details
Twenty-four healthy volunteers and thirteen patients with clinical sign of lower limb tendinous and/or muscular pathology were consequently evaluated with conventional sonography and SEL in order to have useful representation of the elastic modulus of such structures in different conditions and get a useful depiction of SEL patterns.
As it follows,
a series of explanatory images regarding our preliminary results has been provided to illustrate SEL applications.
TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Sonoelastography has been improved a lot for recent years together with its use in the clinical...
Conclusion
Sonoelastography is a very promising tool in the evaluation of tendons and muscles,
it can be used to depict stiffness changes in various soft-tissue structures such as muscles,
tendons and ligaments.
Strain elastography provide quick,
easier and qualitative or semi-quantitative measurements of such structures,
shear waves elastography adds a more precise quantitative characterization with a much more difficult learning curve and a longer examination time.
As reported before,
both these techniques are characterized by some technical limitation but we can argue that SEL represents a...
References
Aubry S,
Nueffer JP,
Tanter M,
Becce F,
Vidal C,
Michel F.
Viscoelasticity in Achilles Tendonopathy: Quantitative Assessment by Using Real-time Shear-Wave Elastography.
Radiology.
2014 Oct 17:140434.
Klauser AS,
Miyamoto H,
Bellmann-Weiler R,
Feuchtner GM,
Wick MC,
Jaschke WR.
Sonoelastography: musculoskeletal applications.
Radiology.
2014 Sep;272(3):622-33.
Ooi CC,
Malliaras P,
Schneider ME,
Connell DA.
"Soft,
hard,
or just right?" Applications and limitations of axial-strain sonoelastography and shear-wave elastography in the assessment of tendon injuries.
Skeletal Radiol.
2014 Jan;43(1):1-12.
Eby SF,
Cloud BA,
Brandenburg JE,
Giambini H,...