Quantitative viscoelastic response (QVISR) ultrasound

A system for quantitatively measuring a physical characteristic of a tissue sample, the system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors, wherein the system is operable to:
• apply a force to a tissue sample according to an interrogation profile comprising a set of one or more interrogation parameters, wherein applying the force comprises performing an Acoustic Radiation Force (ARF) ultrasound interrogation;
• measure values of on-axis displacement, with respect to an axis of the ARF interrogation, over time of the tissue sample that occurs as a result of applying the force according to the interrogation profile and recording the measured values of the displacement over time as a displacement profile;
• and
• use the interrogation profile and the displacement profile of the tissue sample to derive a plurality of quantitative values of a physical characteristic of the tissue sample, wherein using the interrogation profile and the displacement profile of the tissue sample to derive the quantitative values of the physical characteristic includes providing the interrogation profile and the displacement profile of the tissue sample, as inputs, to a time-series statistical regression machine learning model trained on experimental or simulated displacement data and interrogation profiles, including depth of axial displacement measurement and focal depth of acoustic radiation force within the tissue sample, as inputs, and that generates, as outputs, a plurality of quantitative estimates, in pascals, of elasticity at different depths and lateral locations in the tissue sample an;
• a plurality of quantitative estimates, in pascal seconds, of viscosity at different depts and lateral locations in the tissue sample.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing software instructions that when executed by one or more processors of a system for quantitatively measuring a physical characteristic of a tissue sample, cause the system to:

• apply a force to a tissue sample according to an interrogation profile comprising a set of one or more interrogation parameters, wherein applying the force comprises performing an Acoustic Radiation Force (ARF) ultrasound interrogation;
• measure values of on-axis displacement, with respect to an axis of the ARF interrogation, over time of the tissue sample that occurs as a result of applying the force according to the interrogation profile and recording the measured values of the displacement over time as a displacement profile;
• and
• use the interrogation profile and the displacement profile of the tissue sample to derive a plurality of quantitative values of a physical characteristic of the tissue sample, wherein using the interrogation profile and the displacement profile of the tissue sample to derive the quantitative values of the physical characteristic includes providing the interrogation profile and the displacement profile of the tissue sample as inputs to a time-series statistical regression machine learning model trained on experimental or simulated displacement data and interrogation profile, including depth of axial displacement measurement and focal depth of acoustic radiation force within the tissue sample, as inputs, and that generates, as outputs, a plurality of quantitative estimates, in pascals, of elasticity at different depths and lateral locations in the tissue sample and a plurality of quantitative estimates, in pascal seconds, of viscosity at different depths and lateral locations in the tissue sample.