Shear-wave elastography in breast ultrasonography: the state of the art.

Shear-wave elastography (SWE) is a recently developed ultrasound technique that can visualize and measure tissue elasticity. In breast ultrasonography, SWE has been shown to be useful for differentiating benign breast lesions from malignant breast lesions, and it has been suggested that SWE enhances the diagnostic performance of ultrasonography, potentially improving the specificity of conventional ultrasonography using the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System criteria. More recently, not only has SWE been proven useful for the diagnosis of breast cancer, but has also been shown to provide valuable information that can be used as a preoperative predictor of the prognosis or response to chemotherapy.