Ultrasound-based noninvasive shear elasticity probe for soft tissues

An ultrasonic technique for measuring the viscoelastic properties of soft tissues is presented. This technique uses a transducer set up on a vibrator as a source of high frequency waves (ultrasound) and low frequency waves (shear wave) at the same time. Ultrasound (5 MHz) allows one to detect the displacements induced by the shear waves (200 Hz) inside soft biological tissues. These shear waves reveal pieces of information about the shear elasticity and the shear viscosity. Two kinds of media are investigated: agar-gelatin phantoms and in-vivo human biceps.