Pressed for an answer: has elastography finally come to EUS?

摘要

In this issue of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Saftoiu et al present their findings from a prospective study of elastography used during EUS evaluation of benign and malignant lymph nodes. The study represents a step forward in the transition of this fascinating technology from an investiga-tional tool to a clinically meaningful test. In 1991, Ophir et al coined the term "elastography" to describe an imaging technique that conveyed information about a tissue's relative firmness in response to compression, meaning it is more akin to palpation than inspection. Various forms of elastography exist, being used within the fields of optics, magnetic resonance imaging, and US. In the area of US, elastography can be based upon a tissue's response to compression to measure tissue deformation (compression elastography), a tissue's displacement in response to short bursts of vibration (transient elastography), or a tissue's effects on vibration amplitudes in response to continuous vibration (vibration elastography).Gastroenterologists may already be familiar with transient elastography in the form of the FibroScan (Echosens, Paris, France), a device that uses US to measure the effects of transient vibrations through the liver to measure the organ's stiffness or degree offibrosis.