3D Shear Wave Absolute Vibro-Elastography system for targeted prostate biopsy: Initial results

Abstract—Quantitative tissue stiffness characterization can aid in diagnosing prostate cancer (PCa). Shear wave absolute vibro-elastography (SWAVE) provides volumetric, multifrequency shear wave imaging with external excitation. In this work, we present a first-of-a-kind 3D multi-frequency endo- rectal SWAVE system with probe-mounted exciter for prostate imaging. The system uses a SonixTouch Ultrasound with minimum hardware addition– making it compatible with the current clinical workflow. The exciter is designed to be sterilizable and is programmed with a function generator that attaches to the Ultrasound machine. Sector-wise sequencing is utilized to boost the effective framerate of the ultrasound and satisfy the Nyquist rate. Overall, the system is characterized with quality assurance elastography phantoms and in vivo liver data of healthy subjects– comparing with 3D Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE). High correlation between SWAVE and MRE were obtained in both phantoms (99%) and liver (94%).