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Shear strain imaging using shear deformations
Author(s) -
Rao Min,
Varghese Tomy,
Madsen Ernest L.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
medical physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.473
H-Index - 180
eISSN - 2473-4209
pISSN - 0094-2405
DOI - 10.1118/1.2825621
Subject(s) - elastography , simple shear , shear (geology) , materials science , pure shear , shear modulus , shear stress , imaging phantom , geometry , ultrasound , optics , composite material , acoustics , physics , mathematics
In this article we investigate the generation of shear strain elastograms induced using a lateral shear deformation. Ultrasound simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the shear strain elastograms obtained under shear deformation exhibit significant differences between bound and unbound inclusions in phantoms, when compared to shear strain images induced upon an axial compression. A theoretical model that estimates the decorrelation between pre‐ and postdeformation radio frequency signals, as a function of extent of shear deformation, is also developed. Signal‐to‐noise ratios of shear strain elastograms obtained at different shear angles are investigated theoretically and verified using ultrasound simulations on a uniformly elastic phantom. For the simulation and experiment, a two‐dimensinal block‐matching‐based algorithm is used to estimate the axial and lateral displacement. Shear strains are obtained from the displacement vectors using a least‐squares strain estimator. Our results indicate that the signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) of shear strain images increases to reach a maximum and saturates, and then decreases with increasing shear angle. Using typical system parameters, the maximum achievable SNR for shear strain elastography is around 8 (18 dB), which is comparable to conventional axial strain elastography induced by axial compression. Shear strain elastograms obtained experimentally using single inclusion tissue‐mimicking phantoms with both bound and unbound inclusions (mimicking cancerous masses and benign fibroadenomas, respectively) demonstrate the characteristic differences in the depiction of these inclusions on the shear strain elastograms.