Recent Trends in Research and Development of Ultrasound Elastography

Abstract

Development of ultrasound elastography at the start of 1990s is aimed at the diagnosis of diseases which bring sclerotic change of tissues such as cancer, arteriosclerosis and cirrhosis. In 2003, the world's first practical system of ultrasound elastography was released in Japan. As the utility of ultrasound elastography for the clinical application such as breast cancer diagnosis has been proven, most of manufactures have produced equipment with ultrasound elastograpy as the third image mode behind the B-mode and Doppler method. At present, principles of ultrasound elastography are classified into two categories. One is strain imaging that uses strain generated by the tissue compression and the other is shear wave imaging that measures the speed of shear wave generated within the body. Displayed parameters and measurement methods are different between two imaging methods. In 2013, therefore, academic societies on medical ultrasound have started to establish the guidelines of ultrasound elastography practice.