Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: A major goal of medicine is to measure the integrity of tissues without invasive procedures. Current methods of detecting cancerous or diseased tissue involves rudimentary techniques such as palpation or extensive lab tests and biopsies. Tissue is extracted from the patient and analyzed under a microscope for signs of tumor growth, and therefore, the patient needs to undergo surgery for the tissue extraction. This results in patient discomfort and higher medical costs. Palpation is a clinical examination tool that has been used for centuries to detect abnormalities in parts of the human body that are easily accessible by assessing the changes in the stiffness of tissues. The elasticity of tissues in the human body is well known and therefore, a change in elasticity may indicate the presence of disease. However, it is limited to tissues that are easily accessible to the physicians by hand. Recent advancement of medical technology has allowed for the use of imaging techniques to analyze the tissues that are not easily accessible. X-ray imaging has come to be a significant means of detecting bone damage, CT imaging has allowed for the volumetric imaging of various areas of the body, and MRI has provided enhanced soft-tissue contrast with little radiation. However, these techniques fail to quantify the changes in the mechanical properties of the tissues due to disease. The MRI system can be modified to perform Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE) a technique that allows for the noninvasive measurement of local mechanical properties of tissues by analyzing the visual and temporal strains caused by the propagation of mechanical shear waves.
Language: English
Subfield: Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2801257574