CURRENT STATUS OF ENDOSCOPIC ULTRASOUND (EUS)-ELASTOGRAPHY: HOW TO PERFORM EUS-ELASTOGRAPHY

Abstract

Ultrasound elastography is one of the new diagnostic techniques for measuring the elasticity (i.e., hardness) of tissue. Ultrasound elastography techniques are classified into strain elastography and shear wave elastography. In the endoscopic setting, only strain elastography is currently available as endoscopic ultrasound-elastography (EUS-EG). Since strain elastography measures the relative stiffness within the region of interest, it does not provide an absolute measurement of tissue stiffness. Therefore, EUS-EG results need to be evaluated qualitatively and semi-quantitatively. This review will summarize the techniques and tips in performing EUS-EG and how to read and interpret EUS-EG images with several case presentations.