Mathematical and computational modelling of ultrasound elasticity imaging

<p>In this thesis a parameter recovery method for use in ultrasound elasticity imaging is developed. Elasticity imaging is a method for using a series of ultrasound images (and the displacement field between them) to estimate the spatial variation of the stiffness of the tissue being imaged....

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Southern, J, Southern, James
Other Authors: Gavaghan, D
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2006
Subjects:
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author Southern, J
Southern, James
author2 Gavaghan, D
author_facet Gavaghan, D
Southern, J
Southern, James
author_sort Southern, J
collection OXFORD
description <p>In this thesis a parameter recovery method for use in ultrasound elasticity imaging is developed. Elasticity imaging is a method for using a series of ultrasound images (and the displacement field between them) to estimate the spatial variation of the stiffness of the tissue being imaged. Currently iterative methods are used to do this: a model of tissue mechanics is assumed and a large number of simulations using varying parameters are compared to the actual displacement field. The aim of this work is to develop a solution method that works back from the known displacement field to determine the tissue properties, reducing the number of simulations that must be performed to one.&lt;.p&gt; <p>The parameter recovery method is based on the formulation and direct solution of the 2-d linear elasticity inverse problem using finite element methods. The inverse problem is analyzed mathematically and the existence and uniqueness of solutions is described for varying numbers of displacement fields and appropriate boundary conditions. It is shown to be hyperbolic (and so difficult to solve numerically) and then reformulated as a minimization problem with hyperbolic Euler-Lagrange equations.</p> <p>A finite element solution of the minimization problem is developed and implemented. The results of the finite element implementation are shown to work well in recovering the parameters used in numerical simulations of the linear elasticity forward problem so long as these are continuous. The method is shown to be robust in dealing with small errors in displacement estimation and larger errors in the boundary values of the parameters. The method is also tested on displacement fields calculated from series of real ultrasound images.</p> <p>The validity of modelling the ultrasound elasticity imaging process as a 2-d problem is discussed. The assumption of plane strain is shown not to be valid and methods for extending the parameter recovery method to 3 dimensions once 3-d ultrasound becomes more widely used are described (but not implemented).</p></p>
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spelling oxford-uuid:242fddf0-ef9c-4a90-88f5-c7b41f4bda5a2024-12-01T18:40:36ZMathematical and computational modelling of ultrasound elasticity imagingThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:242fddf0-ef9c-4a90-88f5-c7b41f4bda5aLagrange equationsMechanical propertiesMathematical modelsTissuesElasticityEnglishPolonsky Theses Digitisation Project2006Southern, JSouthern, JamesGavaghan, DNoble, AChapman, JNoble, AGavaghan, D<p>In this thesis a parameter recovery method for use in ultrasound elasticity imaging is developed. Elasticity imaging is a method for using a series of ultrasound images (and the displacement field between them) to estimate the spatial variation of the stiffness of the tissue being imaged. Currently iterative methods are used to do this: a model of tissue mechanics is assumed and a large number of simulations using varying parameters are compared to the actual displacement field. The aim of this work is to develop a solution method that works back from the known displacement field to determine the tissue properties, reducing the number of simulations that must be performed to one.&lt;.p&gt; <p>The parameter recovery method is based on the formulation and direct solution of the 2-d linear elasticity inverse problem using finite element methods. The inverse problem is analyzed mathematically and the existence and uniqueness of solutions is described for varying numbers of displacement fields and appropriate boundary conditions. It is shown to be hyperbolic (and so difficult to solve numerically) and then reformulated as a minimization problem with hyperbolic Euler-Lagrange equations.</p> <p>A finite element solution of the minimization problem is developed and implemented. The results of the finite element implementation are shown to work well in recovering the parameters used in numerical simulations of the linear elasticity forward problem so long as these are continuous. The method is shown to be robust in dealing with small errors in displacement estimation and larger errors in the boundary values of the parameters. The method is also tested on displacement fields calculated from series of real ultrasound images.</p> <p>The validity of modelling the ultrasound elasticity imaging process as a 2-d problem is discussed. The assumption of plane strain is shown not to be valid and methods for extending the parameter recovery method to 3 dimensions once 3-d ultrasound becomes more widely used are described (but not implemented).</p></p>
spellingShingle Lagrange equations
Mechanical properties
Mathematical models
Tissues
Elasticity
Southern, J
Southern, James
Mathematical and computational modelling of ultrasound elasticity imaging
title Mathematical and computational modelling of ultrasound elasticity imaging
title_full Mathematical and computational modelling of ultrasound elasticity imaging
title_fullStr Mathematical and computational modelling of ultrasound elasticity imaging
title_full_unstemmed Mathematical and computational modelling of ultrasound elasticity imaging
title_short Mathematical and computational modelling of ultrasound elasticity imaging
title_sort mathematical and computational modelling of ultrasound elasticity imaging
topic Lagrange equations
Mechanical properties
Mathematical models
Tissues
Elasticity
work_keys_str_mv AT southernj mathematicalandcomputationalmodellingofultrasoundelasticityimaging
AT southernjames mathematicalandcomputationalmodellingofultrasoundelasticityimaging