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US 8,282,553 B2Granted
Method and apparatus for acoustoelastic extraction of strain and material properties
AssigneeWisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
InventorsRay Vanderby, Hirohito Kobayashi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An ultrasound machine processes ultrasonic data according to acoustoelastic properties of the materials to obtain strain information without specific assumptions with respect to the material properties of the measured material or a variety of different material properties normally not obtained by ultrasound machines.
Claims18
An ultrasonic acoustoelastography system comprising:
- an ultrasonic transducer system adaptable to provide a first echo signal from a first and second material interface of an element to be measured at a first state of deformation of the element and a second echo signal from the first and second material interface of the element to be measured at a second state of deformation of the element;
- a signal processing system configured to:
- (i) evaluate the first echo signal at the first state of deformation of the element to measure a first strain value and a first stiffness value of the element at the first strain value;
- (ii) evaluate the second echo signal at the second state of deformation of the element to measure a second strain value and a second stiffness value of the element at the second strain value;
- (iii) compare the measured first and second stiffness values and the measured first and second strain values to determined a change in stiffness as a function of strain;
- and
- (iv) output a characterization of the element based on the change of stiffness as a function of strain for the element.
4 more elements
A method of ultrasonic measurement comprising the steps of:
- (i) acquiring a first echo signal from a first and second material interface of an element at a first state of deformation of the element;
- (ii) acquiring a second echo signal from the first and second material interface of the element at a second state of deformation of the element;
- (iii) evaluate the first echo signal at the first state of deformation of the element to measure a first strain value and a first stiffness value of the element at the first strain value;
- (iv) evaluate the second echo signal at the second state of deformation of the element to measure a second strain value and a second stiffness value of the element at the second strain value;
- (v) compare the measured first and second stiffness and the measured first and second strain values to determine a change in stiffness as a function of strain;
- and
- (vi) output a characterization of the element based on the change of stiffness as a function of strain for the element.
4 more elements
An ultrasonic acoustoelastography system comprising:
- an ultrasonic transducer system adaptable to provide a first echo signal from a first and second material interface on a front and rear face of an element to be measured with respect to a propagation of the first echo signal at a first state of deformation of the body, and a second echo signal from the first and second material interface on the front and rear face of the element to be measured with respect to a propagation of the second echo signal at a second state of deformation of the body;
- and
- a signal processing system configured to:
- (a) evaluate the first echo signal at the first state of deformation of the element to provide a first measure of material of the element based on changes in a strength of reflected energy indicating relative strength of reflected ultrasonic energy with respect to incident ultrasonic energy, the measure of the material indicating a stiffness of the material and a strain of the material;
- (b) evaluate the second echo signal at the second state of deformation of the element to provide a second measure of material of the element based on changes in a strength of reflected energy indicating relative strength of reflected ultrasonic energy with respect to incident ultrasonic energy, the measure of the material indicating a stiffness of the material and a strain of the material;
- and
- (c) output a measure of a change of stiffness as a function of change in strain based on the first and second measures.
4 more elements
A method of ultrasonic measurement of tissue comprising the steps of:
- (a) obtaining a first echo signal from a first and second material interface on a front and rear face of an element to be measured with respect to a propagation of the first echo signal at a first state of deformation of the body
- (b) obtaining a second echo signal from the first and second material interface on the front and rear face of the element to be measured with respect to a propagation of the second echo signal at a second state of deformation of the body;
- (c) evaluating the first echo signal at the first state of deformation of the element to provide a first measure of material of the element based on changes in a strength of reflected energy indicating relative strength of reflected ultrasonic energy with respect to incident ultrasonic energy, the measure of the material indicating a stiffness of the material and a strain of the material;
- (d) evaluating the second echo signal at the second state of deformation of the element to provide a second measure of material of the element based on changes in a strength of reflected energy indicating relative strength of reflected ultrasonic energy with respect to incident ultrasonic energy, the measure of the material indicating a stiffness of the material and a strain of the material;
- and
- (e) outputting a measure of a change of stiffness as a function of change in strain based on the first and second measures.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.