Three dimensional ultrasonic tissue elasticity imaging

Imaging of tissue elastic properties is expected to be a new modality by which to assess tissue diseases such as cancer. However, some reconstruction techniques are based on 1-D strain data and require the imposition of many boundary conditions. In order to reconstruct under less restricted conditions, it is necessary to fully evaluate the mechanical equilibrium equations using all components of the, displacement vector induced by tissue deformation. In this work, we employed the 3-D displacement vector measurement method utilizing the 2-D array probe. In addition, we developed the reconstruction method of tissue elastic modulus distribution using the measured 3-D displacement vector. The feasibility of the proposed methods were investigated by numerical simulation using the ultrasonic echo signals. Finally basic experimental system was applied to imaging the distribution of elastic properties of tumor phantom. The results indicate the validity of the reconstruction method in evaluating the 3-D tissue elastic distribution.