A Pilot Studyonoelastography is now routinely used in medical sonography since Ophir et al 1 first described the principles of strain imaging in 1991. The technique can assess the elastic properties of tissues, and static elastography has found clinical application in diagnosing lesions of the breast, 2 thyroid, 3 lymph nodes, 4 and prostate gland. 5 The basic principle of sonoelastography is to produce displacement within the tissue by physical compression. By comparing the images taken before and after the application of compression, sonoelastography can show different degrees of displacement. 1 However, the stiffness of the tissue can only be obtained by comparing it with surrounding normal tissues. The degree of the compression applied by the operator may alter the results of sonoelastography. -Mei Chen, MD, PhD, Li-Gang Cui, MD, PhD, Ping He, MD, PhD, Wei-Wei Shen, MD, MS, Ya-Jun Qian, MD, MS, Jin-Rui Wang, MD, BS Received June 4, 2012,
Xiang
ORIGINAL RESEARCHObjectives-The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of using quantitative shear wave elastography for assessing the functional integrity of the Achilles tendon and to summarize the changes in elasticity of ruptured Achilles tendons in comparison with normal controls.Methods-Thirty-six normal and 14 ruptured Achilles tendons were examined with shear wave elastography coupled with a linear array transducer (4-15 MHz). The elasticity value of each Achilles tendon in a longitudinal view was measured.Results-The mean elasticity value ± SD for the normal Achilles tendons was 291.91 ± 4.38 kPa (note that there are saturated measurement phenomena for the normal Achilles tendon, so the actual value will be >300 kPa), whereas the ruptured Achilles tendons had an elasticity value of 56.48 ± 68.59 kPa. A statistically significant difference was found in relation to the findings in healthy volunteers (P = .006).Conclusions-Our results suggest that shear wave elastography is a valuable tool that can provide complementary biomechanical information for evaluating the function of the Achilles tendon.