Aim: The purpose of the study is to assess the ultrasound elastographic appearance of musculoskeletal disorders (traumatic lesions, miosytis, neuro-muscular disease, inflammatory lesions). Methods: The study group consists of 50 patients with musculoskeletal disorders who were examined in the interval May 2007– January 2008. All patients were assessed using 2D ultrasound and elastography. The results were compared with clinical, biochemical and electromiographical analysis. The goal of the study was to characterize the elastographic appearance of the pathological changes of muscular tissue. Tissue stiffness was analyzed with custom developed hue analysis software. Results: In traumatic muscular lesions (12 patients), elastography allowed to differentiate hemorrhagic (elastic) from fibrotic (stiff) areas. In miosytis and neuro-muscular diseases (22 patients), elastography revealed normal muscular elasticity in the early stages, while in the advanced stages the muscles showed increased stiffness, probably due to replacement by fibrotic tissues. In chronic inflammatory musculoskeletal disorders (pr, SA, 16 patients) elastography allows the assessment of elasticity of the ligaments and tendons. Elastography was used for the follow-up under therapy (25 patients). In cases with favorable evolution, elastography revealed normal elasticity, fibrous scar zones appear like stiff areas while in cases of cystic transformation, elastography reveals a „soft“ appearance, as revealed by the increase, respectively decrease of the mean hue level. Conclusions: Elastography offers the opportunity to assess and grade the elasticity of the soft tissues of the musculoskeletal system. In this respect, it is a promising tool for the diagnosis and follow-up of musculoskeletal diseases, complementing the other imaging methods.
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Botar-Jid et al. (2008) studied this question.