Article

The use of brightness-mode ultrasound and Doppler ultrasound in physical medicine
and rehabilitation has increased dramatically. The continuing evolution of
ultrasound technology has also produced ultrasound elastography, a cutting-edge
technology that can directly measure the mechanical properties of tissue,
including muscle stiffness. Its real-time and direct measurements of muscle
stiffness can aid the diagnosis and rehabilitation of acute musculoskeletal
injuries and chronic myofascial pain. It can also help monitor outcomes of
interventions affecting muscle in neuromuscular and musculoskeletal diseases, and
it can better inform the functional prognosis. This technology has implications
for even broader use of ultrasound in physical medicine and rehabilitation
practice, but more knowledge about its uses and limitations is essential to its
appropriate clinical implementation. In this review, we describe different
ultrasound elastography techniques for studying muscle stiffness, including
strain elastography, acoustic radiation force impulse imaging, and shear-wave
elastography. We discuss the basic principles of these techniques, including the
strengths and limitations of their measurement capabilities. We review the
current muscle research, discuss physiatric clinical applications of these
techniques, and note directions for future research.
CI - Copyright (c) 2014 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by
Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS