A comparison of model based and direct optimization based filtering algorithms for shearwave velocity reconstruction for electrode vibration elastography

Tissue stiffness estimation plays an important role in cancer detection and treatment. The presence of stiffer regions in healthy tissue can be used as an indicator for the possibility of pathological changes. Electrode vibration elastography involves tracking of a mechanical shear wave in tissue using radio-frequency ultrasound echoes. Based on appropriate assumptions on tissue elasticity, this approach provides a direct way of measuring tissue stiffness from shear wave velocity, and enabling visualization in the form of tissue stiffness maps. In this study, two algorithms for shear wave velocity reconstruction in an electrode vibration setup are presented. The first method models the wave arrival time data using a hidden Markov model whose hidden states are local wave velocities that are estimated using a particle filter implementation. This is compared to a direct optimization-based function fitting approach that uses sequential quadratic programming to estimate the unknown velocities and locations of interfaces. The mean shear wave velocities obtained using the two algorithms are within 10% of each other. Moreover, the Young´s modulus estimates obtained from an incompressibility assumption are within 15 kPa of those obtained from the true stiffness data obtained from mechanical testing. Based on visual inspection of the two filtering algorithms, the particle filtering method produces smoother velocity maps.