Elastography – is a new diagnostic technology that shows elasticity of soft tissue. It provides diagnostic information about the tissue whether it is hard or soft and allows to diagnose for example cancerous tumours wich are often used to be harder than the surrounding tissue.
The innovative equipment “Fibroscan” can help to differentiate between benign and malignant tumors at very early stage.This method of research represents an alternative to liver biopsy.It allows to determine the degree of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease, primarily with chronic viral hepatitis and liver cirrhosis.
The diagnostic technology is similar to liver ultrasound or MRI and takes about 10-15 minutes. This method is noninvasive, painless and safe. For accurate diagnostic results the average is taken from at least 10 measurements.
Degree of fibrosis is graded on a 5-point scale Metavir.
|
The degree of fibrosis Metavir |
The average value of elasticity (kPa) |
|
F0 – no fibrosis |
≤5.8 |
|
F1 – portal fibrosis without septa |
5.9 – 7.2 |
|
F2 – portal fibrosis with few septa |
7.3 – 9.5 |
|
F3 – numerous septa without cirrhosis |
9.6 – 12.5 |
| F4 – cirrhosis |
> 12.5 |
Ultrasound elastography of the prostate
Prostate disease is the most common urological disease in older men after age 50. The increase in prostate cancer cases shows a need for developement of better diagnostic techniques that are able to identify as accurately as possible tumors at early stage.
Opportunities of prostate elastography
Despite the fact that the standard ultrasound examination is able to detect a problem, there are some cases in which ultrasound picture of the prostate tissue is non-specific. Therefore a “thin” diagnosis is required. Here elastography is used as an additional diagnostic method like in breast cancer cases.
Diagnosis of following areas by elastography:
- Prostate gland
- Periprostatic tissue
- Seminal vesicles
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