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.
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.
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.
IR 2773, 2887
Licensing Contact: Ron Katz
