Estimation of tissue elasticity by image processing of simulated B-mode ultrasound images

Elastography and strain imaging often use ultrasound to measure mechanical properties of soft tissues. These techniques generally examine radiofrequency signals from an ultrasound scanner. This study investigates the feasibility of strain estimation directly from an ultrasound B-mode image, using segmentation and shape analysis. Several thousand computer generated tissue mimicking phantoms with stiff inclusions were produced and analysed, evaluating the change in shape when the phantom is subjected to 1-D compression in order to estimate strain. The resulting stiffness measurements are accurate to within 8% of the actual values.