DocumentCode :
1219024
Title :
Shear Wave Spectroscopy for In Vivo Quantification of Human Soft Tissues Visco-Elasticity
Author :
Deffieux, Thomas ; Montaldo, Gabriel ; Tanter, Mickaël ; Fink, Mathias
Author_Institution :
Lab. Ondes et Acoust., Univ. Paris VII, Paris
Volume :
28
Issue :
3
fYear :
2009
fDate :
3/1/2009 12:00:00 AM
Firstpage :
313
Lastpage :
322
Abstract :
In vivo assessment of dispersion affecting the propagation of visco-elastic waves in soft tissues is key to understand the rheology of human tissues. In this paper, the ability of the supersonic shear imaging (SSI) technique to generate planar shear waves propagating in tissues is fully exploited. First, by strongly limiting shear wave diffraction in the imaging plane, this imaging technique enables to discriminate between the usually concomitant influences of both medium rheological properties and diffraction affecting the shear wave dispersion. Second, transient propagation of these plane shear waves in soft tissues can be measured using echographic images acquired at very high frame. In vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrate that dispersion curves, which characterize the rheological behavior of tissues by measuring the frequency dependence of shear wave speed and attenuation, can be recovered in the 75-600 Hz frequency range. Based on a phase difference algorithm, the dispersion curves are computed in 1 cm2 regions of interest from the acquired propagation movie. In vivo measurements in biceps brachii muscle and liver of three healthy volunteers show important differences in the rheological behavior of these different tissues. Liver tissue appears to be much more dispersive with a phase velocity ranging from ~ 1.5 m/s at 75 Hz to ~ 3 m/s at 500 Hz whereas muscle tissue shows an important anisotropy, shear waves propagating longitudinally to the muscular fibers are almost nondispersive while those propagating transversally are very dispersive with a shear wave speed ranging from 0.5 to 2 m/s between 75 and 500 Hz. The estimation of dispersion curves is local and can be performed separately in different regions of the organ. This signal processing approach based on the SSI modality introduces the new concept of In vivo shear wave spectroscopy (SWS) that could become an additional t- ol for tissue characterization. This paper demonstrates the in vivo ability of this SWS to quantify both local shear elasticity and dispersion in real time.
Keywords :
bioacoustics; biomechanics; biomedical measurement; biomedical ultrasonics; biorheology; elastic waves; liver; medical image processing; muscle; ultrasonic diffraction; ultrasonic dispersion; ultrasonic propagation; viscoelasticity; SSI; biceps brachii muscle; concomitant influence; dispersion curve estimation; echographic image measurement; frequency 75 Hz to 600 Hz; human soft tissues visco-elasticity; human tissue rheology; in vitro measurement; in vivo quantification; liver; muscle anisotropy; muscular fiber; phase difference algorithm; planar shear wave generation; shear elasticity; shear wave attenuation measurement; shear wave diffraction; shear wave dispersion; shear wave spectroscopy; shear wave speed measurement; signal processing; supersonic shear imaging technique; transient propagation; velocity 0.5 m/s to 2 m/s; visco-elastic wave propagation; Attenuation measurement; Biological tissues; Diffraction; Dispersion; Frequency measurement; In vivo; Muscles; Rheology; Spectroscopy; Velocity measurement; Dispersion; Elastography; Liver; Muscle; Rheology; Shear Wave Spectroscopy; Supersonic Shear Imaging; elastography; liver; muscle; rheology; shear wave spectroscopy (SWS); supersonic shear imaging (SSI); Algorithms; Elasticity; Elasticity Imaging Techniques; Humans; Liver; Models, Biological; Muscle, Skeletal; Phantoms, Imaging; Rheology; Spectrum Analysis;
fLanguage :
English
Journal_Title :
Medical Imaging, IEEE Transactions on
Publisher :
ieee
ISSN :
0278-0062
Type :
jour
DOI :
10.1109/TMI.2008.925077
Filename :
4520150
Link To Document :
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