Siemens workshop extends knowledge of tissue elasticity and strain imaging

22 February 2010

Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames. Over 270 sonographers and consultants joined together recently to extend knowledge and understanding of acoustic radiation force imaging (ARFI) and elasticity imaging techniques. A Siemens Healthcare workshop at Euroson 2009 provided the platform for the discussion.

One of the topics of discussion was Siemens’ Virtual Touch application on the Acuson S2000 ultrasound system. Adding a new parameter to diagnostic ultrasound information, Virtual Touch is the first commercially available implementation of ARFI.

Interrogating the mechanical strain properties or stiffness of tissue, ARFI is highly beneficial for deep tissue imaging, including the liver. The accuracy it achieves with deep tissue also makes it ideal for larger patients and has the potential to reduce biopsies by providing a greater level of information in one examination.

The application uses an acoustic ‘push pulse’ sequence to compress tissue and to create a relative stiffness map for any region of interest. Its tissue quantification feature is the only application to provide a numerical value of shear wave speed related to tissue stiffness at a precise anatomical location.

Elasticity imaging gauges how much tissue moves when pushed, so that it can detect how soft or stiff an object is. Made possible by the eSie Touch feature on the S2000 ultrasound, elasticity imaging is an emerging technique that has the potential to reduce the number of biopsies carried out by detecting benign lesions with greater accuracy.

“Innovations in tissue imaging are changing the way we use ultrasound and these emerging techniques mark an exciting milestone in the development of this modality,” said Declan Dunphy, Ultrasound Product Manager at Siemens Healthcare.

Euroson 2009, the annual meeting of the European Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (EFSUMB), was held in conjunction with the British Medical Ultrasound Society (BMUS) Annual Scientific Meeting from 6-8 December 2009.