A Preliminary Study on the Safety of Elastography during Pregnancy: Hypoacusia, Anthropometry, and Apgar Score in Newborns Massó Guijarro, Paloma Melchor, Juan Rus Carlborg, Guillermo Sonia Molina, Francisca Elastography ARFE Fetal safety Ultrasound safety Hypoacusia Anthropometrical measurements Transient or acoustic radiation force elastography (ARFE) is becoming the most extended technology to assess cervical effacement, additionally to the Bishop test and conventional ultrasound. However, a debate on the fetal safety has been opened due to the high intensity focused beam emitted to produce shear waves. This work is aimed at providing preliminary data to assess clinical effects of fetal exposure. A follow-up study in newborns of 42 women exposed to ARFE during pregnancy was carried out to explore neonatal hypoacusia, Apgar test, and anthropometry. No hypoacusia cases attributable to ARFE were observed. The Apgar test at five minutes scored normally in all the newborns. Comparisons between anthropometric measurements showed no significant statistically differences. The results preclude to state the harmfulness nor the safety of ARFE. However, given the concern on the high level of energy and the potential risk of harmful bioeffects, larger studies are recommended. 2021-02-01T09:48:00Z 2021-02-01T09:48:00Z 2020-11-18 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Massó, P., Melchor, J., Rus, G., & Molina, F. S. (2020). A Preliminary Study on the Safety of Elastography during Pregnancy: Hypoacusia, Anthropometry, and Apgar Score in Newborns. Diagnostics, 10(11), 967. [doi:10.3390/diagnostics10110967] http://hdl.handle.net/10481/66163 10.3390/diagnostics10110967 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución 3.0 España Mdpi