Elastograms of the diabetic foot by ultrasonic impulse elastography

Elastography allows an elastic map from a soft biological tissue using shear waves. The technique consists of exciting the tissue or organ to be analyzed with an external mechanical low frequency pulse and detecting the displacements of each small region of tissue when receiving the shear wave. This is done by obtaining the records of the echographic signals of the region analyzed with a transducer ultrasound. The speckle interferometry of the Ascan signals is then performed. Thus the displacement produce by the shear wave of the each small region of tissue is determined. In this way a map of the shear wave velocity is obtained across the scanned area. The Young's modulus of the analyzed region is computed from this velocity value. In this work, this new technique is applied to study the diabetic foot, making an elastic map of the sole, allowing detect diseased areas.