In Achilles Tendon Disorders, Will Sonoelastography Add to Grey-Scale Ultrasound? Using MRI as Gold Standard

Abstract

Background The aim of this study was to verify the findings of color-coded sonoelastography in Achilles tendon disorders against ultrasonographic and MR imaging findings, describing the elastographic patterns and correlating their diagnostic ability to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a gold standard. Results Our study showed that sonoelastography appeared to be highly sensitive to ultrasonographically detected changes, with 100% sensitivity, 16.6% specificity, 73% positive predictive value, and 100% negative predictive value, making it a good negative test to exclude suspected tendinopathy in equivocal cases. MRI examination was used as a gold standard. Elastographic grades showed moderate agreement to those of MRI (κ = 0.44, p < 0.001), while elastography had overall sensitivity of 87.5%, 100% specificity, and 90% accuracy in differentiating normal and pathological tendons. Conclusion We concluded that sonoelastography is a sensitive method in the diagnosis of Achilles tendon pathologies detected by ultrasound examination and it can be well correlated to MRI with high specificity for pathological tendons.