Special Collection: Clinical Guidelines
WFUMB Guidelines and Recommendations for Clinical Use of Ultrasound Elastography: Part 1: Basic Principles and Terminology
Conventional diagnostic ultrasound images of the anatomy (as opposed to blood flow) reveal differences in the acoustic properties of soft tissues (mainly echogenicity but also, to some extent, attenuation), whereas ultrasound-based elasticity images are able to reveal the differences in the elastic properties of soft tissues (e.g., elasticity and viscosity). The benefit of elasticity imaging lies in the fact that many soft tissues can share similar ultrasonic echogenicities but may have different mechanical properties that can be used to clearly visualize normal anatomy and delineate pathologic lesions.WFUMB Guidelines and Recommendations for Clinical Use of Ultrasound Elastography: Part 3: Liver
The World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (WFUMB) has produced these guidelines for the use of elastography techniques in liver disease. For each available technique, the reproducibility, results, and limitations are analyzed, and recommendations are given. Finally, recommendations based on the international literature and the findings of the WFUMB expert group are established as answers to common questions. The document has a clinical perspective and is aimed at assessing the usefulness of elastography in the management of liver diseases.
