Ultrasound Elastography for Biomedical Applications and Medicine

32 Acoustic Radiation Force‐based Ultrasound Elastography for Cardiac Imaging Applications

Stephanie A. Eyerly‐Webb¹, Maryam Vejdani‐Jahromi¹, Vaibhav Kakkad¹, Peter Hollender¹, David Bradway¹ and Gregg Trahey^2,1

¹ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

² Department of Radiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC

32.1 Introduction

Heart diseases are the leading cause of death for both men and women in developed countries, accounting for approximately 1 out of every 4 deaths in the United States each year [1]. Virtually every form of heart disease involves modifications to myocardial elasticity, and the past several decades have seen significant developments in elastography‐based imaging techniques to clinically evaluate myocardial stiffness for diagnosis and monitoring of cardiac diseases. In addition to being a powerful diagnostic tool for cardiac function, elasticity imaging techniques are also showing promise for guiding clinical cardiac ablation treatment for heart rhythm disorders.

This chapter reviews the current research and applications for acoustic radiation force (ARF)‐based methods, namely acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging and shear wave elasticity imaging (SWEI) methods, in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac diseases.

32.2 Acoustic Radiation Force‐based Elastography Techniques

ARFI imaging is an ultrasound‐based elastography method that provides information about the local mechanical properties ...