Magnetic Resonance Elastography
Many disease processes such as cancer cause profound changes in the mechanical properties of tissues, yet none of the conventional medical imaging techniques such as CT, MRI, and ultrasound are capable of delineating this property. Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE) is an emerging diagnostic imaging technology that uses a special MRI technique to image propagating acoustic shear waves in tissue. Inversion algorithms are used to process the wave images to generate quantitative maps of tissue mechanical properties such as stiffness, viscosity, and anisotropy. Several clinical applications of MRE are now well-established, while others await the development of more effective inversion algorithms.
Richard L. Ehman,
Mayo Clinic
