The University of Texas at Dallas

Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science

Content
Page Banner that reads: Distinguished Lecture Series

Ultrasonic Elasticity Imaging with Acoustic Radiation Force

Ultrasonic Elasticity Imaging with Acoustic Radiation Force

Friday, December 7, 10:45 a.m.
T.I. Auditorium (ECSS 2.102)

Dr. Kathryn Nightingale
Duke University

Biography : Dr. Kathryn Nightingale is the James L. and Elizabeth M. Vincent Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University, and she is the director of the Duke Medical Imaging Training Program. Her research interests include ultrasonic and elasticity imaging and instrumentation. She has pioneered the development and clinical translation of acoustic radiation force-based elasticity imaging techniques.

Nightingale is the author of over 75 peer-reviewed journal articles in the areas of ultrasound and elasticity imaging, and she has been awarded 9 patents. She has received the Klein Family Distinguished Teaching Award, the Marion Capers Distinguished Research and Teaching Award, and the Lois and John L. Imhoff Distinguished Teaching Award at Duke University. She has served on numerous National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Department of Defense (DOD) review panels and is currently a charter member of the BMIT-B NIH study section. She is also an Associate Editor for Ultrasonic Imaging, a senior member of IEEE, and a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering.

Abstract :Elasticity imaging involves introducing a mechanical tissue perturbation, imaging the resulting tissue response, and generating images that reflect the underlying mechanical properties of the tissue. Acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) based ultrasonic elasticity imaging methods have become widely available in the clinical market over the past five years.

To date, these methods have been successfully applied to hepatic fibrosis staging and breast lesion characterization, with many additional applications under investigation. The Nightingale laboratory at Duke has focused on the development and implementation of high resolution ARFI elasticity imaging methods for prostate cancer imaging and treatment guidance. Initial in vivo findings demonstrate that ARFI imaging is specific for clinically significant prostate cancer. Commercially available ARFI methods that evaluate shear wave propagation to provide quantitative stiffness estimates generally assume that the tissues are linear, isotropic, elastic, homogeneous, and incompressible in order to reconstruct the underlying material stiffness.

The laboratory’s recent work in shear wave imaging focuses on understanding the sources of error in these systems and developing methods that address some of the underlying assumptions, including using 3D volumetric imaging to analyze material anisotropy, using multi-dimensional filters in addition to two- and three- dimensional shear wave monitoring to improve image quality in structured media, and exploring different approaches to estimate shearwave dispersion. In this talk, Dr. Nightingale will review the underlying physics as she explores the promise and limitations of these methods.