Mikio Suga1,2, Takayuki Obata2,
Masashi Sekine3, Masaya Hirano4, Hisayuki Miura5,
Ken Arai5, Shinya Ozawa5, Hiroo Ikehira2
1Graduate School of Technology, Chiba
University, Chiba , Japan; 2Molecular Imaging Center, National
Institute of Radiological Sciences, Chiba, Japan; 3Research Center
for Frontier Medical Engineering, Chiba University, Japan; 4GE
Healthcare Japan, Tokyo, Japan; 5Graduate School of Technology,
Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
Magnetic
resonance elastography (MRE) can noninvasively visualize shear waves patterns
within tissue. To acquire an accurate shear modulus map in high spatial
resolution in deep regions, external drivers must generate a precisely
controlled high frequency and a large amplitude vibration. In this study, we
develop a simple and robustly designed focused acoustic driver to enhance
shear wave amplitude in deep regions by high frequency using a piezoelectric
actuator. From the results of the experimental studies, it was shown that the
focused acoustic driver increases the SNR of the shear wave image in the deep
region and improves shear modulus quantitatively.
Keywords