Elastography   >> back to the newsletter overview

Elastography is a special kind of ultrasound scan that measures the firmness or elasticity of an organ or of a structure within an organ.

Modern ultrasound technology already grants a high „spatial resolution” in section view (or “temporal resolution” in the case of moving structures, e.g. the cardiac valves) allowing us to display and quantify the blood circulation (“color duplex”). Elastography now adds the possibility of measuring another important property of the tissue without surgery or punctures.

Internal medicine particularly uses this procedure to examine the thyroid gland and the liver.

When does elastography make sense?

Sonography scans of the thyroid gland often reveal lumps. These can be malignant in rare cases; with views to the large number of newly detected lumps, not all of the findings can be clarified by a puncture or even surgery. This makes sonography scans that important to differentiate between malignant and benign ones.

Elastography now screens another significant property of the lumps: their firmness; the harder, more solid or more inelastic a lump is, the more likely it is that it consists of malignant cells (this especially applies in cases in which already known properties, such as a poor echo, irregular borders, an oval shape, an increased circulation, calcifications, are additionally detected).

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Elastography of the liver particularly focuses on diffuse changes of the liver tissue: the harder or more solid the tissue is, the more connective tissue has developed in the liver and the more likely it is that a liver cirrhosis will develop; this means a loss of functioning liver cells in favor of connective tissue cells that are unable to function.

The earlier this process is detected, the earlier steps can be taken to counter it. The following is a frequent case: if sonography reveals suspicious tissue of a potential fatty liver (that can develop without the effect of alcohol, too), the scan will already show inflammatory processes (“hepatitis”), due to slightly or non-increased laboratory parameters (results from liver function tests), that will consequently cause changes in the liver tissue as described.

Further damage can either be avoided or, at least, considerably slowed down if these changes are detected early and counter measures are taken (e.g. dietary recommendations, potential medication, scheduling the monitoring of the disease development, etc.). This particularly applies to cases of patients with a chronic viral hepatitis or a rare liver inflammation due to a disorder of the immune system.

What can we do for you?

Examinations with our state-of-the-art sonography devices are completely painless and there is no need for any preparation. A scan takes roughly 10-15 minutes. It is recommendable to get a liver scan with an empty stomach or 2-3 hours after the last meal.

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