Could Ultrasound Supplant Biopsies?

In a small study presented at the RSNA, researchers performed elastography, an ultrasound technique that measures how easily breast lumps compress and return to their original shape, on 80 women to distinguish between benign and malignant lesions with nearly 100 percent accuracy. Elastography correctly identified 17 out of 17 cancerous tumors and 105 out of 106 harmless lesions.
If future studies result in similar findings, clinicians are hopeful that elastography could substitute biopsies, saving thousands of women from the waiting, cost, discomfort and anxiety.