Abstract :
Various imaging diagnostic methods have emerged in past few decades for the detection of pathological lesions in our body. Palpation was the earliest and most common method of assessing a lesion based on its hardness. Ultrasound elasticity imaging is an extension of the ancient art of palpation. Elastography is the method for assessing tissue hardness by imaging the tissue strain with an underlying principle that, tissue compression produces strain within the tissue which is lower in hard tissue than in soft tissue and this change in strain pattern is imaged as bright and dark respectively. The major clinical applications of elastography in maxillofacial region are differentiating benign from malignant lesions, differentiating reactive and malignant lymph node, to assess masseter stiffness, to evaluate focal lesions in major salivary glands. This review highlights a new non-invasive diagnostic method elastography, its principles of action and clinical applications and advantages over conventional ultrasonography.
Keyword :
Elastography, Ultrasonography, Lymph Node