The Effect of Frequency on the Uniformity of Hepatic Shear Wave Illumination

Kevin John Glaser¹, David Stanley², Jun Chen¹, Meng Yin¹, Richard Ehman¹

MR elastography (MRE) has emerged as a promising noninvasive tool for diagnosing hepatic fibrosis. However, making the distinction between healthy and mildly fibrotic livers can be difficult, partly due to the soft, highly attenuating nature of the liver tissue. In this work, the improvement in hepatic illumination achieved by decreasing the frequency of mechanical vibration was studied. The results show that a significant increase in the volume of hepatic tissue with high phase difference to noise ratio can be achieved by decreasing the frequency of vibration.