This technology is a system of focused ultrasound beams that can be used to remotely and non-invasively measure tissue elasticity in vivo and measure the changes thereof in response to treatment.
Unmet Need: Non-invasive method to measure tissue elasticity in vivo
The mechanical properties of tissues often change during pathological conditions and during treatment such as chemotherapy and ablation (RF or ultrasound). For example, tissue stiffness can indicate the presence of a tumor, the extent of a tumor and its stiffness will inform the success of its treatment. Currently, tissue elasticity is measured by applying a controlled force and measuring the tissue’s mechanical response. This approach is suitable for tissues that can be deformed externally such as breast and prostate, but testing internal samples requires the patient to undergo painful invasive testing. Other internal radiation force approaches apply a ‘push’ on the tissues of about one micron but this can be mistaken as respiration, subject rigid movement or speed of sound change. Thus, there is a significant need for non-invasive, internal in vivo measurements of tissue properties without incurring artifacts from subject motion or properties other than stiffness.
The Technology: Focused ultrasound for the non-invasive and non-destructive examination of tissue properties
This technology applies oscillatory radiation force in combination with ultrasound imaging to measure the mechanical properties of tissues remotely that will not be affected by movement or other properties due to its oscillatory nature that allows filtering for specific frequencies. By applying an amplitude-modulated ultrasound radiation force locally within the body, the local area of the tissue expands and contracts, effectively inducing displacement and strain that can then be measured by an imaging transducer. Due to the localized application and the simultaneous imaging, the strain information can then be used to calculate the elastic properties of the tissue from the net force and displacement data that is also being collected. This enables remote detection of tissue elasticity, leading to non-invasive imaging of tumor cells within the human body during the active application of the force.
This technology has been validated on canine liver tissues.
Applications:
- Measurement of elastic properties of organs, for both preclinical and clinical applications, especially deep-seated tissues
- Mapping of elasticity of organs to identify abnormalities in stiffness as a result of fibrosis and/or cancer
- Evaluation of skin softening products
- Non-invasive evaluations of implant properties and condition
- Real-time monitoring of tissue treatment such as RF ablation, ultrasound ablation, radiotherapy or chemotherapy
- Detecting tumors in a living subject
- Non-invasive, non-destructive measurement of elastic properties of non-biological materials in situ
Advantages:
- Allows for the quantitative measurement of Young’s modulus
- Can be used to measure elasticity of internal tissues without organs
- High power
- High penetration
- Non-invasive and non-destructive
- Non-ionizing
- Fast
- Provides very high resolution, under 1mm
Lead Inventor:
Elisa E. Konofagou, Ph.D.
Patent Information:
Patent Status
Related Publications:
Han Y, Wang S, Hibshoosh H, Taback B, Konofagou E. Tumor characterization and treatment monitoring of postsurgical human breast specimens using harmonic motion imaging (HMI). Breast Cancer Res. 2016;18(1):46.
Shahmirzadi D, Hou GY, Chen J, Konofagou EE. “Ex Vivo characterization of canine liver tissue viscoelasticity after high-intensity focused ultrasound ablation” Ultrasound Med Biol. 2014 Feb; 40(2): 341-350.
Hou GY, Luo J, Marquet F, Maleke C, Vappou J, Konofagou EE. “Performance assessment of HIFU lesion detection by harmonic motion imaging for focused ultrasound (HMIFU): a 3-D finite-element-based framework with experimental validation” Ultrasound Med Biol. 2011 Dec; 37(12): 2013-2027.
Nabavizadeh A, Payen T, Saharkhiz N, McGarry M, Olive KP, Konofagou EE.Technical Note: In vivo Young’s modulus mapping of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma during HIFU ablation using harmonic motion elastography (HME), Med Phys. 2018 Nov;45(11):5244-5250. doi: 10.1002/mp.13170. Epub 2018 Oct 1.
Payen T, Palermo CF, Sastra SA, Chen H, Han Y, Olive KP, Konofagou EE. Elasticity mapping of murine abdominal organs in vivo using harmonic motion imaging (HMI). Phys Med Biol. 2016 Aug 7;61(15):5741-54. doi: 10.1088/0031-9155/61/15/5741. Epub 2016 Jul 12.
Chen H, Hou GY, Han Y, Payen T, Palermo CF, Olive KP, Konofagou EE. Harmonic motion imaging for abdominal tumor detection and high-intensity focused ultrasound ablation monitoring: an in vivo feasibility study in a transgenic mouse model of pancreatic cancer. CIEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2015 Sep;62(9):1662-73. doi: 10.1109/TUFFC.2015.007113.
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