On the safety of elastography in fetal medicine: A preliminary study of hypoacusia Massó Guijarro, Paloma Molina, Francisca Rus Carlborg, Guillermo Elastography Acoustic radiation force elastography (ARFE) Pregnancy Teratogenous Hypoacusia Cervical stiffness This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: Massó, P.; Molina, F.; Rus Carlborg, G. On the safety of elastography in fetal medicine: A preliminary study of hypoacusia. Ultrasound in Obstetric and Gynaecology: accepted author manuscript (2017), which has been published in final form at http://doi.dx.org/10.1002/uog.17429 . This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving. Elastography is a promising technology to provide additional clinical information on the cervical effacement to that obtained from Bishop test and conventional cervicometry by ultrasounds. Among the different techniques, transient, or acoustic radiation force elastography (ARFE) is becoming the most common commercial elastography technique. However, the high intensity of thr beam that ARFE emits to generate the necessary concentrated burst of acoustic radiation [1] to induce a tractable shear oscillatory displacement (see Figure 1), has raised some concerns about its potential teratogenous effects during pregnancy. This letter is aimed at opening a debate to assess the safety of this type of elastography, and in particular to provide a preliminary screening of cochlear damage in exposed fetus. 2017-02-14T12:31:04Z 2017-02-14T12:31:04Z 2017 info:eu-repo/semantics/preprint Massó, P.; Molina, F.; Rus Carlborg, G. On the safety of elastography in fetal medicine: A preliminary study of hypoacusia. Ultrasound in Obstetric and Gynaecology: accepted author manuscript (2017). [http://hdl.handle.net/10481/44845] 1469-0705 0960-7692 http://hdl.handle.net/10481/44845 10.1002/uog.17429 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess John Wiley and Sons