Tendons and Ligaments

Elastography is more and more used as an additional imaging modality to improve the diagnostic performance of conventional ultrasound in the evaluation of tendons and ligaments, both qualitatively with strain elastography and quantitatively with shear wave elastography. It can increase the accuracy in the diagnostic work-up, being also an interesting tool to be used in follow-up imaging to monitor treatment response. To date, few robust studies have proven the value of elastography, mostly on tendinopathies, with sonoelastography that might be particularly useful to identify mild tendinopathies that do not lead to substantial changes in B-mode ultrasound findings. Conversely, there is still scarce evidence of its clinical value to image ligaments.