title: Differentiating benign from malignant superficial lymph nodes with sonoelastography.
abstract: The aim of the paper is to provide a comprehensive overview on the applications of real time sonoelastography (SE) in the diagnosis of superficial lymphadenopathy. Some technical aspects of performing SE are presented as a preamble. The typical appearance of benign and malignant nodes is illustrated. The paper discusses and depicts the various elastographic scores in use. It also provides a critical appraisal of the relative strain ratio (SR) or stiffness index. Shear wave elastography, as a novel technique, is mentioned. In conclusion, hardness on more than 50% of the node surface or SR > 1.5 is fair to good indicators of malignancy. Work is still needed both to fully understand the various appearance of disease and to standardize the application.
authors.affiliation: Radiology Department, "Iuliu Hațieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. dudea@clicknet.ro
authors.forename: Sorin M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Dudea
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Botar-Jid
authors.forename: Dana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dumitriu
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vasilescu
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Manole
authors.forename: Manuela Lavinia
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Lenghel
mesh_terms: D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity