Implementation and evaluation of elastographic techniques

Elastography is an ultrasound based imaging technique used to explore the elastic properties of tissues by detecting their mechanical response to an external or internal stimulus. Changes in elasticity are associated with some pathologies like cancer, and hence, elastography is an important tool for the diagnosis of these diseases. The present work addresses the implementation of an image compounding technique using one of these elastographic techniques and reports the results obtained with an elasticity tissue-mimic phantom. Our study includes Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse Imaging (ARFI), which uses the acoustic radiation force (ARF) to produce the stimulus (internal force). The strain image is formed from longitudinal displacement calculation by means of a correlation algorithm. A spatial compounding image is generated by moving the array probe combining individual images, increasing the field of view and improving lesions evaluation. The final objective of this work is to integrate elastography in a multimodal imaging system aimed to the early diagnosis of breast cancer. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.