A Dual-Transducer Approach for High-Resolution and High-Precision Shear Wave Elasticity Imaging

Shear wave elasticity imaging, an ultrasound-based method for imaging tissue elasticity, has been widely accepted in both preclinical studies and clinical practices for diagnosing various diseases. Currently, shear wave elasticity imaging is primarily implemented using a single-transducer approach, in which the same ultrasound transducer is used for both generating and recording shear waves in target tissue. This technical implementation well served the need for imaging bulk tissues in various cases. However, the limited bandwidth of the ultrasound transducer is a great obstacle to extending the application of shear wave elasticity imaging to cases where higher spatial resolution and/or stronger tissue stimulation are needed. To address this challenge, we proposed a dual-transducer approach in which two ultrasound transducers perform shear wave generation and tracking, each optimized for its respective task. The feasibility of the proposed method is demonstrated and verified in a phantom study. In this pioneering work, the strength of the dual-transducer approach is shown by its performance in shear wave tracking at various frequencies. This performance is evaluated by four measures: signal-to-noise ratio, contrast-to-noise ratio, spatial resolution, and precision in quantitative measurement. The experimental results demonstrate the superior elasticity imaging capabilities of the dual-transducer approach compared to the conventional single-transducer approach, offering a reliable strategy for further development of this imaging method for specific applications.