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==Applications==
[[File:Prostate-with-histology-01.gif|thumb|upright|right|While not visible on conventional grayscale ultrasound (left), a strain elastography image (centre) of the [[prostate gland]] detects a cancer (dark red area at lower left). The finding is confirmed by [[histology]].]]
Elastography is used for the investigation of many disease conditions in many organs. It can be used for additional diagnostic information compared to a mere anatomical image, and it can be used to guide [[biopsy|biopsies]] or, increasingly, replace them entirely. Biopsies are invasive and painful, presenting a risk of hemorrhage or infection, whereas elastography is completely noninvasive.
Elastography is used to investigate disease in the liver. Liver stiffness is usually indicative of [[fibrosis]] or [[steatosis]], which are in turn indicative of numerous disease conditions, including [[cirrhosis]] and [[hepatitis]]. Elastography is particularly advantageous in this case because when fibrosis is diffuse, a biopsy can easily miss sampling the diseased tissue, which results in a [[false negative]] misdiagnosis.
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