Quantitative imaging using Time Reversal Elastography: A feasibility study

In previous works the authors developed a method for extracting the shear elasticity of soft tissues from a complex reverberated elastic field using spatiotemporal correlations interpreted in the frame of the time-reversal symmetry: Time Reversal Elastography (TRE). By measuring the shear wavelength from the focal width as the wave converges the shear elasticity can be obtained. The feasibility of TRE as an imaging technique has already been shown, in vivo, in bi-layer mediums (e.g. belly muscle - liver). In this work the authors take a step forward and demonstrate its feasibility as a quantitative imaging technique by detecting a 10 mm diameter inclusion embedded in a softer medium. As a result the inclusion is clearly detected using TRE despite the low contrast between background and inclusion. A general quantitative agreement within 10% in the shear wave speed estimation was found between TRE and independent transient elastography measurements.