Correlation-based full-waveform shear wave elastography

Objective. With the ultimate goal of reconstructing 3D elasticity maps from ultrasound particle velocity measurements in a plane, we present in this paper a methodology of inverting for 2D elasticity maps from measurements on a single line. Approach. The inversion approach is based on gradient optimization where the elasticity map is iteratively modified until a good match is obtained between simulated and measured responses. Full-wave simulation is used as the underlying forward model to accurately capture the physics of shear wave propagation and scattering in heterogeneous soft tissue. A key aspect of the proposed inversion approach is a cost functional based on correlation between measured and simulated responses. Main results. We illustrate that the correlation-based functional has better convexity and convergence properties compared to the traditional least-squares functional, and is less sensitive to initial guess, robust against noisy measurements and other errors that are common in ultrasound elastography. Inversion with synthetic data illustrates the effectiveness of the method to characterize homogeneous inclusions as well as elasticity map of the entire region of interest. Significance. The proposed ideas lead to a new framework for shear wave elastography that shows promise in obtaining accurate maps of shear modulus using shear wave elastography data obtained from standard clinical scanners.

Automated summary

This paper presents a methodology for inverting 2D elasticity maps from measurements on a single line, with the ultimate goal of reconstructing 3D elasticity maps from ultrasound particle velocity measurements. The inversion approach is based on gradient optimization and uses full-wave simulation to accurately capture shear wave propagation and scattering in soft tissue. The proposed correlation-based cost functional shows better convexity and convergence properties compared to traditional least-squares functional, making it more robust against noisy measurements and other errors. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the method in characterizing homogeneous inclusions and the entire region of interest. Significance: This new framework for shear wave elastography has the potential to accurately map shear modulus using ultrasound elastography data from standard clinical scanners.