Elastography device and method

An elastography device to obtain a signal representative of variations of a mechanical property of a region of a body of a subject with time, the region of the body being liver, spleen or brain, the elastography device comprising:

• a probe including a vibrator configured to generate a transient low-frequency mechanical pulse at a central frequency between 10 and 500 Hz in the body of the subject and at least one transducer configured to emit ultrasounds, the probe being further configured to acquire ultrasound echo signals to track a propagation of the transient low-frequency mechanical pulse in the body of the subject;
• an electronic unit in communication with the least one ultrasound transducer for controlling emission of the ultrasounds, the electronic unit comprising electronic circuitry adapted to
• process the ultrasound echo signals received by the probe and determine at a repetition rate of at least 4 measurements per second and for a duration of at least 1 second, measurements of the mechanical property associated with liver, spleen or brain using the ultrasound echo signals received by the probe, each measurement of the mechanical property being associated with a respective time, and
• generate, with said measurements, and in real time, the signal representative of the variations of the mechanical property of the region of the body, wherein the signal representative of the variations of the mechanical property with time comprises a plurality of the measurements of the mechanical property determined.

An elastography device to obtain a signal representative of variations of a mechanical property of a region of a body of a subject with time, the region of the body being liver, spleen or brain, the elastography device comprising:

• a probe including a vibrator configured to generate a transient low-frequency mechanical pulse at a central frequency between 10 and 500 Hz in the body of the subject and at least one transducer configured to emit ultrasounds, the probe being further configured to acquire ultrasound echo signals to track a propagation of the transient low-frequency mechanical pulse in the body of the subject;
• and
• an electronic unit in communication with the at least one ultrasound transducer for controlling emission of the ultrasounds, the electronic unit comprising a processor and a non-transitory memory storing machine-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, configure the electronic unit to:
• control the vibrator to deliver to the body of the subject a plurality of transient, low-frequency mechanical pulses, each having the central frequency between 10 and 500 Hz, at a predefined repetition rate of at least 4 pulses per second and for a predefined duration of at least 1 second;
• upon delivery of each said transient, low-frequency mechanical pulse, control the at least one ultrasound transducer to emit a sequence of ultrasound pulses, and acquire the ultrasound echo signals received in response by the at least one ultrasound transducer to track a propagation of a low-frequency elastic wave induced by said mechanical pulse through the region of the body of the subject;
• process, by the processor executing said machine-executable instructions, the ultrasound echo signals received by the probe and determine measurements of the mechanical property associated with liver, spleen or brain using the ultrasound echo signals received by the probe, each measurement of the mechanical property being related to said low-frequency elastic wave propagation and being associated with a respective time;
• and
• generate, by the processor executing said machine-executable instructions and with said measurements, and in real time, the signal representative of the variations of the mechanical property of the region of the body, wherein the signal representative of the variations of the mechanical property with time comprises a plurality of the measurements of the mechanical property determined.