Elastography of the pancreas.

Elastography has recently been presented in clinical studies as a new technique applied to US imaging. The challenge of this new technique is to distinguish different tissues on the basis of their specific consistency. Since malignant tumors tend to be harder than benign lesions and parenchyma, this new approach could result clinically relevant. Initial clinical experiences in US elastography have been promising in differentiating breast, thyroid and prostate nodules. Pancreatic applications of US elastography are relatively recent and under validation with several studies so far published in literature.