Andrii Petrov1, Elijah E. W. Van Houten2, Matthew D. J. McGarry3, Peter Latta4, Marco Gruwel4
1Centre for Bioengineering, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand; 2Mechanical Engineering, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand; 3Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, United States; 4Institute for Biodiagnostics, National Research Council of Canada, Winnipeg, Canada
This research study focuses on application of the subzone based Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE) using Rayleigh damped (RD) material model to quantify shear stiffness, damping behavior and elastic energy attenuation mechanism of the intracranial tissue in the in vivo healthy brain. The octahedral shear strain (OSS) SNR calculation confirmed significant attenuation of the shear strain waves in the deeper brain region. The measurement of brain viscoelastic properties revealed that ventricles exhibits much lower elasticity (0.8 kPa) than the surrounding white and gray matter (2.6 kPa). We conclude that RD MRE show promise for potential in vivo determination of different brain tissue types, and the possibility of providing additional diagnostic tools.
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