IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2018 Aug;65(8):1402-1414. doi: 10.1109/TUFFC.2018.2842468. Epub 2018 Jun 1.
Single-track location shear wave elasticity imaging (STL-SWEI) is immune to speckle bias, but the quality of the images is depth dependent. We hypothesize that plane-wave imaging can reduce the depth dependence of STL-SWEI. To test this hypothesis, we developed a novel technique known as plane-wave STL-SWEI (pSTL-SWEI). To evaluate the pSTL-SWEI's potential, we performed studies on phantoms and excised murine pancreatic tumors. The mean shear wave speeds measured with STL-SWEI and pSTL-SWEI were similar. However, the elastographic signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of pSTL-SWEI elastograms was noticeably higher than that produced with STL-SWEI. Specifically, we observed an improvement in SNR ranging from 39.9%-55.1%, depending on tissue stiffness. The spatial resolution of pSTL-SWEI elastograms was 2.7%-12.1% lower than that produced with STL-SWEI. pSTL-SWEI elastograms displayed higher contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) than those produced with STL-SWEI, especially when imaging was performed with low push pulse intensities and low pulse durations.
单轨剪切波弹性成像(STL-SWEI)不受斑点伪影的影响,但图像质量与深度有关。我们假设平面波成像是可以减少 STL-SWEI 的深度依赖性。为了验证这一假设,我们开发了一种称为平面波 STL-SWEI(pSTL-SWEI)的新技术。为了评估 pSTL-SWEI 的潜力,我们在体模和切除的鼠胰腺肿瘤上进行了研究。用 STL-SWEI 和 pSTL-SWEI 测量的平均剪切波速度相似。然而,pSTL-SWEI 弹性图的弹性图的信噪比(SNR)明显高于 STL-SWEI。具体而言,我们观察到 SNR 提高了 39.9%-55.1%,具体取决于组织刚度。pSTL-SWEI 弹性图的空间分辨率比 STL-SWEI 低 2.7%-12.1%。pSTL-SWEI 弹性图的对比噪声比(CNR)高于 STL-SWEI,尤其是在使用低推脉冲强度和短脉冲持续时间进行成像时。