Ultrasound Elasticity Imaging

Our group has extensive experience in ultrasound shear wave elastography, which is a technique that uses acoustic radiation force or external mechanical vibration to induce shear waves inside the human body. Shear waves are ultrasonically detected and used to measure tissue stiffness (e.g., shear modulus). We have successfully translated some of our shear wave elastography technologies to the clinic via licensing and commercialization. These technologies are used worldwide for clinical applications such as liver fibrosis staging and cancer early detection.

Our group is currently developing 3D shear wave elastography techniques based on the 2D row-column-addressing (RCA) array. Thanks to the low channel count and absence of multiplexing, 2D RCA arrays are ideal for 3D shear wave imaging because they provide an ultrafast volumetric scanning speed (e.g., tens of thousands of volumes per second) and they are able to “push” (that is, using acoustic radiation force for shear wave generation).

Related publications:

†Co-first author     *Corresponding author

  1. Dong Z, Kim J, Huang C, Lowerison MR, Chen S, Song P*, “Three-dimensional Shear Wave Elastography Using a 2D Row Column Addressing Array”, BME Frontiers, vol. 2022, Article ID 9879632, 11 pages, 2022.
  2. Palmeri ML*, Milkowski A, Barr R, Carson P, Couade M, Chen J, Chen S, Dhyani M, Ehman R, Garra B, Gee A, Guenette G, Hah Z, Lynch T, Macdonald M, Managuli R, Miette V, Nightingale KR, Obuchowski N, Rouze NC, Morris DC, Fielding S, Deng Y, Chan D, Choudhury K, Yang S, Samir AE, Shamdasani V, Urban M, Wear K, Xie H, Ozturk A, Qiang B, Song P, McAleavey S, Rosenzweig S, Wang M, Okamura Y, McLaughlin G, Chen Y, Napolitano D, Carlson L, Erpelding T, Hall TJ, “Radiological Society of North America/Quantitative Imaging Biomarker Alliance Shear Wave Speed Bias Quantification in Elastic and Viscoelastic Phantoms,” Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, 9999:1-13, 2021.
  3. Huang C, Song P, Mellema DC, Gong P, Lok UW, Tang S, Ling W, Meixner DD, Urban MW, Manduca A, Greenleaf JF, Chen S*, “Three-Dimensional (3D) Shear Wave Elastography on Conventional Ultrasound Scanners with External Vibration,” Physics in Medicine and Biology, vol. 65, no. 21, pp. 1-17, 2020.
  4. Zhang J, Deng Y, Tang Q, Sun J, Huang L, Song P, Bi X*, “Evaluation of Myocardial Stiffness in Hypertensive Patients by Intrinsic Wave Propagation of Myocardial Stretch,” Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, vol. 46, no. 10, pp. 2683-2691, 2020.
  5. Brandenburg JE*, Eby SF, Song P, Bamlet WR, Sieck GC, An KN, “Quantifying Effect of Onabotulinum Toxin A on Passive Muscle Stiffness in Children with Cerebral Palsy Using Ultrasound Shear Wave Elastography,” American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, vol. 97, issue 7, pp. 500-506, 2018.
  6. Kijanka P, Qiang B, Song P, Amador Carrascal C, Chen S, Urban MW*, “Robust Phase Velocity Dispersion Estimation of Viscoelastic Materials Used for Medical Applications Based on the Multiple Signal Classification Method,” IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, vol. 65, issue 3, pp. 423-439, 2018.
  7. Long Z, Tradup DJ, Song P, Stekel SF, Chen S, Glazebrook KN, Hangiandreou NJ*, “Clinical Acceptance Testing and Scanner Comparison of Ultrasound Shear Wave Elastography,” Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics, vol. 19, issue 3, pp. 336-342, 2018.
  8. Mellema DC, Song P, Manduca A, Urban MW, Kinnick RR, Greenleaf JF, Chen S*, “Probe Oscillation Shear Wave Elastography: Initial In Vivo Results in Liver,” IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, vol. 37, no. 5, pp. 1214-1223, 2018.
  9. Eby SF*, Zhao H, Song P, Vareberg BJ, Kinnick RR, Greenleaf JF, An KN, Brown AW, Chen S, “Quantifying Spasticity in Individual Muscles Using Shear Wave Elastography,” Radiology Case Reports, vol. 12, issue 2, pp. 348-352, 2017.
  10. Brandenburg JE*, Eby SF, Song P, Bamlet WR, Kingsley-Berg SM, Sieck GS, An KN, “Quantifying Passive Muscle Stiffness in Children with and without Cerebral Palsy Using Shear Wave Elastography,” Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, vol. 58, issue 12, pp. 1288-1294, 2016.
  11. Mellema DC, Song P, Kinnick RR, Urban MW, Greenleaf JF, Manduca A, Chen S*, “Probe Oscillation Shear Elastography (PROSE): A High Frame-Rate Method for Two-Dimensional Ultrasound Shear Wave Elastography,” IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, vol. 35, no. 9, pp. 2098-2106, 2016.
  12. Song P, Bi X, Mellema DC, Manduca A, Urban MW, Pellikka PA, Chen S, Greenleaf JF*, “Pediatric Cardiac Shear Wave Elastography for Quantitative Assessment of Myocardial Stiffness: A Pilot Study in Healthy Controls,” Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, vol. 42, issue 8, pp. 1719-1729, 2016.
  13. Eby SF, Zhao H, Song P, Vareberg BJ, Kinnick RR, Greenleaf JF, An KN, Chen S, Brown AW*, “Quantitative Evaluation of Passive Muscle Stiffness in Chronic Stroke,” American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, vol. 95, issue 12, pp. 899-910, 2016.
  14. Amador Carrascal C, Song P, Meixner DD, Chen S, Urban MW*, “Improvement of Shear Wave Motion Detection Using Harmonic Imaging in Healthy Human Liver,” Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, vol. 42, no. 5, pp. 1031-1041, 2016.
  15. Urban MW, Qiang B, Song P, Nenadic IZ, Chen S, Greenleaf JF*, “Investigation of the Effects of Myocardial Anisotropy for Shear Wave Elastography Using Impulsive Force and Harmonic Vibration,” Physics in Medicine and Biology, vol. 61, no. 1, pp. 365-382, 2016.
  16. Song P†, Bi X†, Mellema DC, Manduca A, Urban MW, Greenleaf JF, Chen S*, “Quantitative Assessment of Left Ventricular Diastolic Stiffness Using Cardiac Shear Wave Elastography: A Pilot Study,” Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, vol. 35, pp. 1419-1427, 2016.
  17. Song P, Mellema DC, Sheedy SP, Meixner DD, Karshen RM, Urban MW, Manduca A, Sanchez W, Callstrom MR, Greenleaf, JF, Chen S*, “Performance of 2-Dimensional Ultrasound Shear Wave Elastography in Liver Fibrosis Detection Using Magnetic Resonance Elastography as the Reference Standard: A Pilot Study,” Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 401-412, 2016.
  18. Denis M, Bayat M, Mehrmohammadi M, Gregory A, Song P, Whaley DH, Pruthi S, Chen S, Fatemi M, Alizad A*, “Update on Breast Cancer Detection Using Comb-push Ultrasound Shear Elastography,” IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, vol. 62, no. 9, pp. 1644-1650, 2015.
  19. Song P, Urban MW, Manduca A, Greenleaf JF, Chen S*, “Coded Excitation Plane Wave Imaging for Shear Wave Motion Detection,” IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, vol. 62, no. 7, pp. 1356-1372, 2015.
  20. Denis M, Mehrmohammadi M, Song P, Meixner DD, Fazzio RT, Pruthi S, Chen S, Fatemi M, Alizad A*, “Comb-push Ultrasound Shear Elastography of Breast Masses: Initial Results Show Promise,” PLoS ONE, 10(3): e0119398, 2015.
  21. Itoigawa Y, Sperling JW, Steinmann SP, Chen Q, Song P, Chen S, Itoi E, Hatta T, An KN*, “Feasibility Assessment of Shear Wave Elastography to Rotator Cuff Muscle,” Clinical Anatomy, vol. 28, issue 2, pp. 213-218, 2015.
  22. Brandenburg JE*, Eby SF, Song P, Zhao H, Landry BW, Chen S, Sieck GC, An KN, “Feasibility and Reliability of Quantifying Passive Muscle Stiffness in Young Children Using Ultrasound Shear Wave Elastography,” Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 663-670, 2015.
  23. (Journal cover) Song P, Macdonald MC, Behler RH, Lanning JD, Wang MH, Urban MW, Manduca A, Zhao H, Callstrom MR, Alizad A, Greenleaf JF, Chen S*, “Two-dimensional Shear Wave Elastography on Conventional Ultrasound Scanners with Time Aligned Sequential Tracking (TAST) and Comb-push Ultrasound Shear Elastography (CUSE),” IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, vol. 62, issue 2, pp. 290 – 302, 2015.
  24. (Journal cover) Nabavizadeh A, Song P, Chen S, Greenleaf JF, Urban MW*, “Multi-Source and Multi-Directional Shear Wave Generation with Intersecting Steered Ultrasound Push Beams,” IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, vol. 62, no. 4, pp. 647-662, 2015.
  25. Eby SF, Cloud BA, Brandenburg JE, Giambini H, Song P, Chen S, LeBrasseur NK, An KN*, “Shear Wave Elastography of Passive Skeletal Muscle Stiffness: Influences of Sex and Age throughout Adulthood,” Clinical Biomechanics, vol. 30, issue 1, pp. 22 – 27, 2015.
  26. Mehrmohammadi M, Song P, Meixner DD, Fazzio RT, Callstrom MR, Chen S, Fatemi M, Alizad A*, “Comb-push Ultrasound Shear Elastography (CUSE) for Evaluation of Thyroid Nodules: Preliminary In Vivo Results,” IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 97 – 106, 2015.
  27. Dillman JR*, Chen S, Zhao H, Urban MW, Song P, Larson ED, Watcharotone K, Davenport MS, Carson PL, “Superficial ultrasound shear wave speed measurements in soft and hard elasticity phantoms: repeatability and reproducibility using two ultrasound systems”, Pediatric Radiology, pp. 1 – 10, 2014.
  28. (IEEE TMI featured article) Zhao H, Song P, Meixner DD, Kinnick RR, Callstrom MR, Sanchez W, Urban MW, Manduca A, Greenleaf JF, Chen S*, “External Vibration Multi-directional Ultrasound Shearwave Elastography (EVMUSE): Application in Liver Fibrosis Staging”, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, vol. 33, issue. 11, pp. 2140 – 2148, 2014.
  29. Brandenburg JE*, Eby SF, Song P, Zhao H, Brault JS, Chen S, An KN, “Ultrasound Elastography: The New Frontier in Direct Measurement of Muscle Stiffness”, Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, vol. 95, issue 11, pp. 2207 – 2219, 2014.
  30. Song P, Manduca A, Zhao H, Urban MW, Greenleaf JF, Chen S*, “Fast Shear Compounding Using Robust 2-D Shear Wave Speed Calculation and Multi-directional Filtering”, Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, vol. 40, no. 6, pp. 1343-1355, 2014.
  31. Song P, Urban MW, Manduca A, Zhao H, Greenleaf JF, Chen S*, “Comb-push Ultrasound Shear Elastography (CUSE) with Various Ultrasound Push Beams”, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, vol. 32, issue 8, pp. 1435 – 1447, 2013.
  32. Song P, Zhao H, Urban MW, Manduca A, Pislaru SV, Kinnick RR, Pislaru C, Greenleaf JF, Chen S*, “Improved Shear Wave Motion Detection Using Pulse-Inversion Harmonic Imaging with a Phased Array Transducer”, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, vol. 32, issue 12, pp. 2299-2310, 2013.
  33. Eby SF, Song P, Chen S, Chen Q, Greenleaf JF, An KN*, “Validation of Shear Wave Elastography in Skeletal Muscle”, Journal of Biomechanics, vol. 46, issue 14, pp. 2381-2387, 2013.
  34. Song P, Zhao H, Manduca A, Urban MW, Greenleaf JF, Chen S*, “Comb-push Ultrasound Shear Elastography (CUSE): A Novel Method for Two-dimensional Shear Elasticity Imaging of Soft Tissues”, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, vol. 31, issue 9, pp. 1821 – 1832, 2012.
  35. Zhao H, Song P, Urban MW, Greenleaf JF, Chen S*, “Shear Wave Speed Measurement Using an Unfocused Ultrasound Beam”, Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, vol. 38, no. 9, pp. 1646 – 1655, 2012.
  36. Zhao H, Song P, Urban MW, Kinnick RR, Yin M, Greenleaf JF, Chen S*, “Bias Observed in Time-of-flight Shear Wave Speed Measurements Using Radiation Force of a Focused Ultrasound Beam”, Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, vol. 37, no. 11, pp. 1884 – 1892, 2011.