Feasibility of real-time strain elastography in colonic diseases

Abstract

Real-time strain elastography is not routinely performed in clinical practice for characterizing gastrointestinal tract diseases, and there are few studies in the literature on the subject. The recent EFSUMB guidelines suggest the use of this method in the diagnosis of neoplastic lesions and in the characterization of bowel strictures in patients with Crohn's disease. The purpose of this pictorial essay is to evaluate the feasibility of strain elastography in some pathologies of the colon frequently encountered in daily clinical practice and to compare elastography images with corresponding endoscopic and radiographic images. In our opinion, strain elastography is useful for characterizing diseases of the colon as it can add valuable diagnostic information to grayscale ultrasound imaging. However, diagnostic accuracy and clinical relevance of this information should be confirmed by further prospective research-targeted studies.

EFSUMB Recommendations and Guidelines for Gastrointestinal Ultrasound - Part 1: Examination Techniques and Normal Findings (Short version)

“…An overview of the different techniques and applications has been published by EFSUMB [3,5]. Recently, elastography has also been suggested as a tool for assessing diseases in the gastrointestinal tract [53,54]. The bowel wall is thin, surrounded by serosa and with a lumen containing gas and chyme or fecal contents.…”

Speed of sound in rubber-based materials for ultrasonic phantoms

“…However, the addition of some substances to the silicone allows to modify acoustic parameters, such as SoS and Z [11,14]. If these variations in properties are assessed accurately, it could be possible to tune the parameters in order to obtain tailored materials that mimic tissues under US imaging or elastography [15,16]. This paper reports the measurements of SoS and Z of some doped/non-doped rubber-based materials (silicone and polyurethane materials) to be used in the production of multi-organ phantoms.…”

Strain elastography in Crohn’s disease: the role of visual observation and semiquantitative parameters

“…Elastography does not provide differentiation from other intestinal pathologies [20] nor a histological diagnosis [9] but only information on bowel-wall stiffness, which can be correlated with wall damage because of the disease duration. SE with visual observation of elastography color patterns representing the bowel wall is easily performed and, in some cases, provides relevant information.…”