Abstract
The biomechanical properties of soft tissues vary with pathological phenomenon. Ultrasound elasticity imaging is a noninvasive method used to analyze the local biomechanical properties of soft tissues in clinical diagnosis. However, the echo signal-to-noise ratio (eSNR) is diminished because of the attenuation of ultrasonic energy by soft tissues. Therefore, to improve the quality of elastography, the eSNR and depth of ultrasound penetration must be increased using chirp-coded excitation. Moreover, the low axial resolution of ultrasound images generated by a chirp-coded pulse must be increased using an appropriate compression filter. The main aim of this study is to develop an ultrasound elasticity imaging system with chirp-coded excitation using a Tukey window for assessing the biomechanical properties of soft tissues. In this study, we propose an ultrasound elasticity imaging system equipped with a 7.5-MHz single-element transducer and polymethylpentene compression plate to measure strains in soft tissues. Soft tissue strains were analyzed using cross correlation (CC) and absolution difference (AD) algorithms. The optimal parameters of CC and AD algorithms used for the ultrasound elasticity imaging system with chirp-coded excitation were determined by measuring the elastographic signal-to-noise ratio (SNRe) of a homogeneous phantom. Moreover, chirp-coded excitation and short pulse excitation were used to measure the elasticity properties of the phantom. The elastographic qualities of the tissue-mimicking phantom were assessed in terms of Young’s modulus and elastographic contrast-to-noise ratio (CNRe). The results show that the developed ultrasound elasticity imaging system with chirp-coded excitation modulated by a Tukey window can acquire accurate, high-quality elastography images.
Highlights
The standard medical practice of soft tissue palpation is based on the qualitative assessment of stiffness of tissues
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These results can be explained in terms of range side lobe level (RSLL) and main lobe width
Summary
The standard medical practice of soft tissue palpation is based on the qualitative assessment of stiffness of tissues. Human tissue lesions are generally correlated with the variation in elastic properties of tissues. Lesions may or may not exhibit sonographic contrast, which would enable them to be ultrasonically detectable. Tumors of the prostate or breast may be significantly stiffer than the embedding tissue, and yet be invisible or barely visible in standard ultrasound examinations. Diffuse diseases such as cirrhosis of the liver are known to significantly increase the stiffness of liver tissue; the tissue may appear normal in conventional ultrasound examination [1]
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