Assessment of common extensor tendon elasticity in patients with lateral epicondylitis using shear wave elastography

To investigate the role of shear wave elastography (SWE) in patients with lateral epicondylitis (LE) by assessing the common extensor tendon (CET) elasticity.

A total of 62 unilateral LE patients were enrolled. Shear wave speed (SWS) and the thickness of CET in both elbows, along with the involved elbows with pre- and post-treatment, were obtained by SWE. The differences between groups, inter- and intra-observer agreements, and diagnostic accuracy were analyzed with a paired t-test, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs), and receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve, respectively.

LE patients had significantly lower SWS on lesion sides compared to healthy elbows (P<0.05). The SWS of involved elbows were significantly higher after non-operation treatment than before treatment. The inter- and intra-observer agreements were excellent (ICCs: 0.900-0.993) for SWE measurements. Moreover, a 12.2 m/s cutoff value of mean SWS (C _mean) for discriminating LE patients from healthy subjects revealed a sensitivity and specificity of 93% and 93%, respectively.

SWE is a valid imaging technique for the diagnosis of LE and monitoring of the treatment effect. Future studies are essential for investigating the correlations among clinical examinations, conventional ultrasound, and SWE.