title: Elastographic Findings of Achilles Tendons in Asymptomatic Professional Male Volleyball Players.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Elastography is a new sonographic technique that evaluates the elasticity of different tissues such as the Achilles tendon. In this study, we aimed to investigate the elastographic findings of Achilles tendons in professional athletes in comparison with healthy volunteers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-one professional male volleyball players with no history of Achilles trauma were included in this study. Twenty-one healthy male volunteers with similar ages and body mass indices were selected as control participants. All participants underwent sonographic and elastographic evaluations of the Achilles tendons to evaluate Achilles tendon thickness and stiffness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We observed thickening in many of the thirds of the Achilles tendons (right proximal, right middle, left middle, and left distal thirds) of athletes in comparison with healthy volunteers. We did not detect any abnormalities according to the sonographic evaluations in both athletes and healthy volunteers. In the elastographic evaluations, we observed softening in the middle thirds of the Achilles tendons of athletes according to the main types (P < .001) and subtypes (P < .001 for right; and P = .002 for left middle third). There was no difference observed in the elastographic evaluations of the proximal and distal thirds.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  On sonography and elastography, we observed thickening and softening in Achilles tendons of athletes in comparison with healthy volunteers who had similar ages and body mass indices. These changes could be associated with early tendon degeneration. Further longitudinal studies may support this consideration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Ankara Atatürk Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mehtap
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Balaban
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Ankara Atatürk Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ilkay S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Idilman
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Ankara Atatürk Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey aliipek1112@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ipek
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Ankara Atatürk Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Sinem Sigit
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Ikiz
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Ankara Atatürk Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Bulent
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bektaser
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Ankara Atatürk Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gumus
mesh_terms: D000125:Achilles Tendon / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D056352:Athletes; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D054798:Volleyball; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Achilles tendon; athletes; elastography; musculoskeletal ultrasound