Peripheral nerves

Despite several technical advances, the diagnosis of peripheral nerve disorders is still representing a challenge to the treating physician. For long time electrodiagnostic tests were considered the mainstay of diagnosis. Conventional ultrasound was introduced to aid in assessment by measuring the cross-sectional area and identifying structural abnormalities. The introduction of different types of ultrasound elastography allowed better evaluation and identification of tissue abnormalities through estimation of nerve elasticity/stiffness. Diseases of the peripheral nerves can lead to changes of their biomechanical features. A change in the elasticity (softness) of a peripheral nerve could reflect underlying pathophysiology. Shear wave elastography is one of the two major types of elastography which provides qualitative and semiquantitative evaluation without the artifacts made by manual compression.