Real-time elastography for the detection of prostate cancer

The lack of reliable imaging tools in detecting prostate cancer makes a random biopsy still the standard of care to detect prostate cancer. To reduce the number of cores during a biopsy and therefore the risk of biopsy-related complications, an imaging tool which provides reliable guided biopsies is required. Transrectal real-time elastography has shown to have the ability to visualize prostate cancer foci to some extent. In addition to the conventional B-mode image of transrectal ultrasound, it adds information about the stiffness of the prostate tissue. This review highlights the most important studies on elastography to follow the improvements in techniques and to outline the ability to detect prostate cancer and guide biopsies.