Usefulness of Shear Wave Elastography in Determining the Tumor Extent of Basal Cell Carcinomas.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the value of shear wave elastography (SWE) in determining tumor extent of basal cell carcinomas (BCC), and thereby determine the optimal surgical margins (OSM).

Methods: 10 patients (40 surgical margins) with BCC were collected, the visual observation boundaries (VOB) were marked, and the SWE parameters of soft tissues were measured 1 mm intervals in "3, 6, 9, 12" clock directions, starting from VOB. Then tumors were resected with a 5 mm surgical margin outward expansion of VOB.