title: Single- and multiple-track-location shear wave and acoustic radiation force impulse imaging: matched comparison of contrast, contrast-to-noise ratio and resolution.
abstract: Acoustic radiation force impulse imaging and shear wave elasticity imaging (SWEI) use the dynamic response of tissue to impulsive mechanical stimulus to characterize local elasticity. A variant of conventional, multiple-track-location SWEI, denoted single-track-location SWEI, offers the promise of creating speckle-free shear wave images. This work compares the three imaging modalities using a high push and track beam density combined acquisition sequence to image inclusions of different sizes and contrasts. Single-track-location SWEI is found to have a significantly higher contrast-to-noise ratio than multiple-track-location SWEI, allowing for operation at higher resolution. Acoustic radiation force impulse imaging and single-track-location SWEI perform similarly in the larger inclusions, with single-track-location SWEI providing better visualization of small targets ≤ 2.5 mm in diameter. The processing of each modality introduces different trade-offs between smoothness and resolution of edges and structures; these are discussed in detail.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA. Electronic address: peter.hollender@duke.edu.
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Hollender
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Rosenzweig
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Kathryn R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Nightingale
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA; Department of Radiology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Gregg E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Trahey
mesh_terms: D055119:Elastic Modulus; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008954:Models, Biological; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging
keywords: Acoustic radiation force; Shear wave elasticity imaging; Single-track location