Method and apparatus for providing real-time calculation and display of tissue deformation in ultrasound imaging

A method for generating tissue deformation information comprising:

• transmitting ultrasound pulses;
• acquiring echo signals for a plurality of range positions along an ultrasonic beam in an area of interest to cover a spatial region;
• estimating a tissue deformation value for said range positions inside said spatial region;
• and
• displaying tissue deformation values for each range position on a display unit to provide an image of said deformation values for said spatial region,
• wherein the tissue deformation value is strain and the step of estimating the tissue deformation value comprises:
• estimating a strain rate for a given sample volume over a plurality of frames, each of said frames being separated by a frame interval;
• multiplying the estimated strain rate for each of said plurality of frames by the frame interval to determine a strain value for each of said plurality of frames;
• and
• summing the strain values for each of said plurality of frames.

A method for generating tissue deformation information for a tissue portion comprising:

• estimating tissue velocity for a number of sample volumes along an ultrasonic beam, a first end sample volume and a second end sample volume of said sample volumes defining a spatial offset;
• determining whether said first end sample volume and said second end sample volume are within said tissue portion;
• automatically adjusting said spatial offset such that said first end sample volume and said second end sample volume are within said tissue portion and said spatial offset is maximized;
• and
• calculating a tissue deformation value as a spatial derivative of the tissue velocity over said spatial offset.

A method for generating tissue deformation information comprising:

• determining a tissue velocity for a plurality of sample volumes along an ultrasound beam;
• estimating a first strain rate as a spatial derivative of tissue velocity based upon a first spatial offset comprising a first subset of said sample volumes;
• estimating a second strain rate as a spatial derivative of tissue velocity based upon a second spatial offset comprising a second subset of said sample volumes;
• estimating a weighted strain rate based on a weighted sum of said first strain rate and said second strain rate.