Ultrasound systems, methods and computer program products for estimating tissue deformation with harmonic signals

An ultrasound method for estimating tissue deformation in ultrasound elasticity imaging, the method comprising:

• delivering a plurality of tracking pulses;
• obtaining a plurality of data sets for a region of interest from an ultrasound transducer array;
• extracting one or more harmonic data sets comprising harmonic signals from the plurality of data sets;
• and
• estimating tissue deformation in the region of interest responsive to the one or more harmonic data sets.

A computer program product for estimating tissue deformation in ultrasound elasticity imaging, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer readable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code comprising:
• computer readable program code configured to deliver a plurality of tracking pulses and to obtain a plurality of data sets for a region of interest from an ultrasound transducer array;
• computer readable program code configured to extract one or more harmonic data sets comprising harmonic signals from the plurality of data sets;
• and
• computer readable program code configured to estimate tissue deformation in the region of interest responsive to the one or more harmonic data sets.