A hand-held probe for vibro-elastography

Abstract

Vibro-elastography is a new medical imaging method that identifies the mechanical properties of tissue by measuring tissue motion in response to a multi-frequency external vibration source. Previous research on vibro-elastography used ultrasound to measure the tissue motion and system identification techniques to identify the tissue properties. This paper describes a hand-held probe with a combined vibration source and ultrasound transducer. The design uses a vibration absorption system to counter-balance the reaction forces from contact with the tissue. Simulations and experiments show a high level of vibration absorption. The first elastograms from the probe are also shown. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.