We present a new, intelligent interface for freehand strain imaging, which has been designed to support clinical trials investigating the potential of ultrasonic strain imaging for diagnostic purposes across a broad range of target pathologies. The aim with this interface is to make scanning easier and to help clinicians learn the necessary scanning technique quickly, by providing real time fee...

Ultrasonic strain imaging promises to be a valuable tool in medical diagnostics. Reliability and ease-of-use have become important considerations. These depend on selection of appropriate imaging parameters. Two tasks are undertaken here. The tradeoff between resolution and estimation precision is examined closely to establish models for the relationships with imaging parameters and data proper...

Real-Time Elastography (RTE) is a new imaging modality that monitors tissue strain during applied stress. The aim of this thesis was to validate if RTE was a reliable modality to reflect pathologically induced differences in elasticity or tissue hardness and to interrogate if assessment of elastic changes by RTE could be used as a diagnostic tool in clinical practice. Particularly, we focused o...

Background The principal determinants of chronic left ventricular (LV) dysfunction are reduced myocardial contractility and afterload excess due to adverse LV remodeling. To determine the relative contribution of each to a given instance of LV dysfunction, reliable quantitative indices of both myocardial contractility and afterload are needed. At the LV chamber level, ventricular volume and LV ...

Conventional techniques in elastography estimate strain as the gradient of the displacement estimates obtained through crosscorrelation of pre- and postcompression rf A-lines. In these techniques, the displacements are estimated over overlapping windows and the strains are estimated as the gradient of the displacement estimates over adjacent windows. The large amount ofnoise at high window over...

A 4-D B-spline model has been created to accurately capture the dynamic motion of the heart from tagged magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) enabling displacement field reconstruction of myocardial deformation. The 4-D model is allowed to deform based on the location of the tag lines for all frames within the constraints of the model’s spatiotemporal internal energy. From a displacement field, the ...

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. ...

Cardiovascular disease remains the primary killer worldwide. The heart, essentially an electrically driven mechanical pump, alters its mechanical and electrical properties to compensate for loss of normal mechanical and electrical function. The same adjustment also is performed in the vessels, which constantly adapt their properties to accommodate mechanical and geometrical changes related to a...