Sonographic Breast Elastography

Sonographic Breast Elastography

Barr R G

Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine

2012

2012-05

Breast elastography is a new sonographic technique that provides additional characterization information on breast lesions over conventional sonography and mammography. This technique provides information on the strain or hardness of a lesion, similar to a clinical palpation examination. Two techniques are now available for clinical use: strain (compression-based elastography) and shear wave elastography. Initial evaluation of these techniques in clinical trials suggests that they may substantially improve the characterization of breast lesions as benign or malignant. This improvement may substantially reduce the number of benign biopsies performed. Elastography can be performed by several methods and is now available from several manufactures. This article reviews the basics of this technique, how to perform the examination, image interpretation, and artifacts. Although easy to perform, technique is critical to obtain adequate images for interpretation. This primer will highlight the technique and point out common pitfalls.

elastography; strain elastography; Acoustics; Radiology; elasticity; Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging; lesions; shear; benign; breast lesions; characterization of breast lesions; wave imaging

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Journal Article or Conference Abstract Publication

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Article information provided for research and reference use only. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

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