Comparison of the Diagnostic Performance of Strain Elastography and Shear Wave Elastography for the Diagnosis of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

OBJECTIVES To compare the diagnostic performance between strain elastography and shear wave elastography (SWE) for the diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). METHODS Between July 2018 and June 2019, 66 consecutive patients with 95 imaged wrists underwent wrist ultrasound, including grayscale ultrasound, strain elastography, and SWE, because of the suspicion of CTS. During wrist ultrasound, the cross-sectional area (CSA), strain ratio, elasticity, and shear wave velocity of each median nerve were measured at the proximal carpal bone level (scaphoid to pisiform). The variables were compared between the normal and CTS groups by using the independent t test, and subgroup analyses were performed using one-way analysis of variance. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the diagnostic performance of each variable. RESULTS CSA, elasticity, and shear wave velocity showed significant intergroup differences (P   0.05). CONCLUSIONS SWE has a good diagnostic value in CTS. In particular, elasticity can discriminate the severe group from the other groups.