Method of detecting elasticity variations and echographic apparatus for carrying out the method
US6176827A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 17, 1999 |
| Grant date | Jan 23, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 17, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC A)Human Necessities
- CPC primaryA61B8/0825
- WIPO fieldMedical technology
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A method of detecting elasticity variations in a soft tissue which is subjected to an external compression in a predetermined axial direction includes the steps of: PA1 estimating a field of axial displacements in the tissue, PA1 determining an elasticity modulus estimator, including an operation for minimizing a distance between an image of a distribution of elementary elasticity moduli, by a Finite Element Model, and the axial displacement field, PA1 and regularizing the solution of the estimator by means of a diagonal matrix (R) whose coefficients .alpha..sub.ii are functions of the axial displacements (d.sub.i) and are applied to the respective values of the elementary elasticity moduli (e.sub.i) in order to ensure that these elementary elasticity modulus values remain within an uniform interval which is centered around a mean value of each elementary modulus.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.