Ultrasound elastography system and method

An ultrasound elastography system for providing a strain image of an anatomical site, the system comprising a signal processing unit configured to:

• receive a time-varying ultrasound signal from an ultrasound probe having at least one transducer element,
• determine axial motion data based on the time-varying ultrasound signal, the axial motion data indicating a relative axial motion between the ultrasound probe and the anatomical site in an axial direction, and
• determine a lateral variation of the axial motion in a lateral direction based on the axial motion data;
• and
• the system further comprising a display unit configured to:
• display a strain image of the anatomical site based on strain image data which is determined based on the axial motion data, and
• display an indication of lateral variation of a quality of the strain image based on the lateral variation of the axial motion,
• wherein the indication of strain image quality is a bar graph having a bar, wherein a shape of the bar indicates the lateral variation of the axial motion.