Aplio 500 us system

Breast mass specimens were obtained by ultrasound (US)-guided biopsy for suspicious breast masses. We used an Aplio 500 US system (Canon Medical Systems, Tokyo, Japan) with a 5–14 MHz linear transducer. The US examinations were performed by a radiologist (B.K.S.) with 21 years of experience in breast imaging. US-guided core needle biopsy was performed using a 14 G needle. The biopsies obtained were placed in formalin bottles for overnight fixation. Human skin was collected from a cadaver for medical student education through an anatomical donation project at Korea University.

For the liver stiffness measurement, patients underwent either transient elastography (Fibroscan^®, Echosens, Paris, France) or shear wave elastography measurement using a Canon (formerly Toshiba) Aplio 500 US system (Canon Medical systems Corporation, Otawara, Tochigi, Japan). The examination techniques were described elsewhere [21 (link)] and were performed in accordance with guidelines [22 (link)]. Transient elastography and shear wave elastography are both well-established and reliable techniques for assessing liver stiffness [23 (link)]. Since the measurement results of the two methods are not directly comparable, the corresponding liver fibrosis grades were determined. Cut-off values proposed by Ferraioli et al. were applied for the shear wave elastography measurement [24 (link)], while for the transient elastography, cut-off values as proposed by Sandrin et al. [25 (link)] were used.