Ultrasound Elastography for Biomedical Applications and Medicine

17 Vibro‐acoustography and its Medical Applications

Azra Alizad¹ and Mostafa Fatemi²

¹ Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

² Department of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

17.1 Introduction

Vibro‐acoustography (VA), a new ultrasound‐based imaging modality, has gained much interest in the medical field in recent years. This acoustic imaging modality uses the radiation force of ultrasound to induce low‐frequency vibrations in the tissue and creates images of the acoustic response. This chapter focuses on potential biomedical applications of VA. The purpose is to bring together the results of various studies, ex vivo and in vivo, on breast, thyroid, human arteries, and prostate. Here, after a brief discussion about the general principle of VA, we describe the applications. Future developments and potential impact of VA in breast and thyroid imaging are also discussed.

17.2 Background

New imaging modalities based on radiation force of ultrasound have been developed for characterizing mechanical properties of soft tissues. All of these methods aim to differentiate normal tissue from diseased tissue by exploiting the elasticity as a contrast mechanism. Ultrasound radiation force vibrates and deforms soft tissues noninvasively, and the resulting mechanical response of tissues provides elasticity information useful in detection and differentiation.

17.2.1 General Principles of VA and Method

VA is a noninvasive ...