Elastography is a non-invasive method in which stiffness or strain images of soft tissue are used to detect or classify tumours. A tumour or a suspicious cancerous growth is normally 5-28 times stiffer than the background of normal soft tissue. When a mechanical compression or vibration is applied, the tumour deforms less than the surrounding tissue. i.e. the strain in the tumour is less than the surrounding tissue. Hence a strain image may, under particular simplifying assumptions, be interpreted as representative of the underlying Young's modulus distribution.
We are using medical ultrasonic imaging device to produce elastograms that are analyzed to produce elastography. We also apply digital image correlation (DIC) algorithm to elastograms to characterize the properties of gels and tissues.
