The utility of ultrasound elastography in differentiation of endometriomas and hemorrhagic ovarian cysts

Purpose To investigate the feasibility of acoustic radiation force impulse imaging in differentiation of endometriomas and hemorrhagic ovarian cysts. Materials and methods We evaluated 84 ovarian cysts with high internal echogenicity diagnosed in 70 consecutive women. We excluded simple cysts and hemorrhagic cysts containing septations or mural nodules with detectable flow on Doppler ultrasonography. We obtained the elastographic shear wave velocity (SWV) value of the cysts that could be endometriomas or hemorrhagic ovarian cysts. Results Among the 78 ovarian cysts in 70 women without any septation or mural nodule, there were 42 endometriomas and 36 hemorrhagic ovarian cysts. Analysis of median SWV values of the ovarian cysts showed that the endometriomas had considerably higher levels of stiffness compared to the hemorrhagic ovarian cysts [median SWV 4.20 ± 0.42 vs 2.54 ± 1.04 m/s, p