A study on two-dimensional ultrasonic strain reconstruction using finite element analysis model and tissue experiment

Elastography, which is a method for imaging the elastic behavior of soft tissues using ultrasonic echoes, has been under development recently. In this paper, a two-dimensional soft-tissue scattering simulation model based on Finite Element Analysis is established. Radio-frequency ultrasonic back-scattering signals from pre- and post- tissue compression models are obtained. The strain images are reconstructed by a cross-correlation based elastography procedure. The results show that the tissue lateral displacement introduce large errors into reconstructed strain. Use ultrasound beams which close the compression center, decrease the compression ratio can reduce this kind of errors. Experiment on soft tissue corroborates that the model presented in this article can be used to simulate elastographic experiment.