A quasi-static quantitative ultrasound elastography algorithm using optical flow

Lamprecht R, Scheible F, Semmler M, Sutor A (2021)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2021

Journal

Sensors MDPI

Book Volume: 21

Article Number: 3010

Journal Issue: 9

DOI: 10.3390/s21093010

Abstract

Ultrasound elastography is a constantly developing imaging technique which is capable of displaying the elastic properties of tissue. The measured characteristics could help to refine physiological tissue models, but also indicate pathological changes. Therefore, elastography data give valuable insights into tissue properties. This paper presents an algorithm that measures the spatially resolved Young’s modulus of inhomogeneous gelatin phantoms using a CINE sequence of a quasi-static compression and a load cell measuring the compressing force. An optical flow algorithm evaluates the resulting images, the stresses and strains are computed, and, conclusively, the Young’s modulus and the Poisson’s ratio are calculated. The whole algorithm and its results are evaluated by a performance descriptor, which determines the subsequent calculation and gives the user a trustability index of the modulus estimation. The algorithm shows a good match between the mechanically measured modulus and the elastography result—more precisely, the relative error of the Young’s modulus estimation with a maximum error 35%. Therefore, this study presents a new algorithm that is capable of measuring the elastic properties of gelatin specimens in a quantitative way using only the image data. Further, the computation is monitored and evaluated by a performance descriptor, which measures the trustability of the results.

Authors with CRIS profile

Marion Semmler Lehrstuhl für Hals-, Nasen- und Ohrenheilkunde

Related research project(s)

Biomechanical analysis methods of soft tissue in the larynx Jan. 1, 2016 - Dec. 31, 2021

Involved external institutions

UMIT - Private Universität für Gesundheitswissenschaften, Medizinische Informatik und Technik GmbH AT Austria (AT)

How to cite

APA:

Lamprecht, R., Scheible, F., Semmler, M., & Sutor, A. (2021). A quasi-static quantitative ultrasound elastography algorithm using optical flow. Sensors, 21(9). https://doi.org/10.3390/s21093010

MLA:

Lamprecht, Raphael, et al. "A quasi-static quantitative ultrasound elastography algorithm using optical flow." Sensors 21.9 (2021).

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