ABSTRACT

Manual palpation of tissues for the purpose of the identication of disease and diagnosis has been a staple of practicing clinicians for hundreds of years. e utility of manual palpation is based on the ability to identify the diseased tissue by its dierence in stiness from the surrounding tissue. Manual palpation, however, is limited to more supercial and larger nodules or structures because deeper and smaller structures become obscured by overlying tissues. For example, breast cancers may oen be detected by manual palpation; however, liver cancers oen go undetected until pain occurs or liver function is impaired because they lie too deep within the body for manual palpation.