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Mike Mitka

JAMA. 2007;297:455.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Chicago—A variation on an emerging ultrasound technique accurately identified benign and malignant breast lesions in a small study presented at the Scientific Assembly of the Radiological Society of North America held here in November. If validated in larger clinical trials, this new technique could greatly reduce the need for invasive biopsies to confirm lesion type.

The technique involves "elasticity imaging," an ultrasound system that measures the hardness or stiffness of soft tissues. Malignant lesions are harder than benign. For unknown reasons, malignant lesions appear larger when viewed through elasticity imaging than when viewed with traditional ultrasound. One theory suggests that a malignant lesion appears larger through elasticity imaging because desmoplastic surrounding tissue (fibrous tissue that frequently forms around tumors) also shows up in the image (Konofagou EE. Ultrasonics. 2004;42:331-336).

To see if image size differences using both standard ultrasound and elasticity imaging could consistently and accurately diagnose . . . [Full Text of this Article]