Technical note: Real-time sonoelastography evaluation of achilles tendon

Abstract

Sonoelastography (SE) is a new USG-based technique that is being used to assess the elasticity and pliability of various tissues and lesions. We evaluated normal and abnormal Achilles tendons and correlated SE findings with those of high-resolution USG. This article briefly discusses the principle and technique of sonoelastography and the variations in elasticity and pliability between normal and abnormal Achilles tendons.

Strain and shearwave sonoelastographic findings of quadriceps tendon in patients with chronic kidney disease. Are they reliable?

“…Early diagnosis of degenerative tendon injuries is of great importance during the recovery period for treatment and post‐treatment. Since sonoelastography is an imaging technique that helps to accurately measure changes in tendon stiffness in vivo, it can be used to determine the functional capacity of tendons and to evaluate tendon stiffness changes noninvasively over time 4,10,12–17 . Also, it may be a useful diagnostic tool to locate pathological lesions in the tendons.…”

Rotator Cuff Tendinopathy; Comparison Between Conventional Sonography, Sonoelastography, and MRI in Healthy Volunteers and Patients with Shoulder Pain

“…It has already been shown to be useful in breast, prostate, thyroid, cervix and liver diagnostics [1][2][3][4] as well as applied in lymph node characterization [5]. So far, in the musculoskeletal system, SEL has been used to evaluate muscles, tendons, plantar fascia and subcutaneous tissue [6].…”

Poor reproducibility of compression elastography in the Achilles tendon: same day and consecutive day measurements

“…The technology is not yet commonly used in the clinical setting with potential reasoning being that the majority of literature into elastography in the musculoskeletal setting have only shown moderate reliability and large gaps remain in the reliability literature such as results obtained over consecutive measures and the impact of previous exercise. Current literature using elastography to assess the Achilles tendon properties, has predominantly studied data obtained from a single measurement [13][14][15][16][17]. A more recent article assessed subjects on the same day but in both a relaxed and contracted state with a 1 minute rest between measures [18].…”

“…The principle of elastography is similar to palpation, involving application of a force (stress) and measurement of the subsequent response (strain) [7]. Compression (strain) elastography (CE) is one of the most common commercially available types of elastography that has been used to measure the Achilles tendon [12][13][14][15][16][17]. CE provides data relating to the strain experienced within the tissue, with this strain data providing an indication of the tissue stiffness.…”