LAUSR

Abstract The occurrence and development of many diseases are accompanied by a change in the mechanical properties of the human body across different length scales. The word “elastodiagnosis” coined in this review paper indicates that the elastic cue, i.e., the variation in the elastic properties (including linear elastic, viscoelastic, hyperelastic, poroelastic properties and so on) of cells, tissues or organs, can be used in the diagnosis of a disease. This review is organized into sections based on the use of elastodiagnosis in different diseases, including monitoring the development of liver fibrosis, assessing artery stiffening, determining the stage of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and detecting cancers. Emphasis is given to the challenges involved in understanding and characterizing the variation in the mechanical properties of both healthy and diseased tissues, and future perspectives for improving and developing elastodiagnosis methods are discussed.