Measurement of change in thickness of cylindrical shell caused by remote actuation for assessment of viscoelasticity of arterial wall

In this paper, for assessment of the viscoelastic property of the arterial wall, a method is proposed for measuring elastic moduli at multiple frequencies by generating the change in internal pressure due to remote cyclic actuation. From basic experiments using a silicone rubber tube, it was found that the change in internal pressure at the ultrasonic beam position (for measurement of the elastic modulus) can be generated by remotely applied actuation. Furthermore, from resultant minute changes in wall thickness of less than 10 μm measured by the phased tracking method, elastic moduli were obtained at multiple actuation frequencies.