Non-invasive quantitative imaging of arterial wall elasticity using supersonic shear imaging

The concept of shear wave elasticity imaging is applied to arteries. The goal of this study is to demonstrate the potential of this technique for precisely and non-invasively quantifying the elasticity of the arterial wall. Experiments are performed in arterial phantoms composed of elastic cylindrical shells that have an elastic modulus in the range of human arteries stiffness. The feasibility of imaging the shear wave propagation in real-time and measuring the frequency dispersion over a large bandwidth (100-1500 Hz) is demonstrated with good accuracy. Experimental dispersion curves are in good agreement with the theoretical curves computed for each phantom. Based on the dispersion measurement, a simple method is developed to derive the elastic modulus of the arterial wall. Finally, the feasibility of quantifying non-invasively the elastic modulus of the arterial wall is demonstrated in vivo on healthy volunteers.