ELASTOGRAPHY
Shear wave elastography (SWE) imaging lets you noninvasively measure tissue stiffness.
SWE mode is available on the Vega® imaging system.
Learn more about how SWE could advance your research.
Tissue stiffness is an important biomarker for a range of pathologies.
Now you can measure tissue stiffness within the soft tissues of rodents noninvasively, in seconds.
SWE in Action | Liver
Illustration of would class liver images. The DigiMouse Atlas (left) illustrates the location for the scan plane through the portal triad in the mouse liver (representative image, right) Notice how the lateral field of view is 24 mm, which is uniquely enabled by SonoVol® technology’s robotic scanning approach. In the B-mode image (right), the entire cross section through the mouse is visualized upwards from abdomen to spine.
Tissue Stiffness as a biomarker for liver disease: As a result of repetitive or long-lasting injury or inflammation in the liver, scarring (fibrosis) occurs causing the tissue to get stiffer, which increases SWE measurements. In the clinic, SWE is used to non-invasively monitor the onset and progression of nearly every type of chronic liver disease including hepatitis B and C, alcoholic diseases, dysmetabolic steatopathies (NASH), and biliary conditions.
A validated approach for in vivo research: As shown in recently published paper from Hepatology Communications (PMID: 35202510), the Vega can be used to track the onset and progression of liver diseases in a highly sensitive manner, and with minimal sonographic expertise. The noninvasive ultrasound readouts for both fibrosis and steatosis were validated against histological ground truth measures.
SWE in Action | Kidney
Anatomical and stiffness imaging of a mouse kidney, in seconds: A mouse kidney is scanned in the long-axis orientation. B-mode provides an image of the tissue borders for anatomical context (left) while the SWE overlay (right) shows regions of different densities in vivo. Here the Renal Cortex is shown to be stiffer than the Medulla, as expected. Colormap displays units of speed (m/s) of the shear wave. Image courtesy of The Mayo Clinic (Dr. Michael Romero).
SWE in Action | In Vitro Phantoms
Shear wave velocity maps of calibrated elasticity phantoms: Grayscale is background tissue anatomical imaging, while color corresponds to underlying tissue stiffness. Units of m/s correspond to shear wave velocity (faster = stiffer).
The SWE overlay on grayscale b-mode provides a window into the tissue’s mechanical properties at that location. The larger the shear wave velocity, the stiffer the tissue. Above are four example images within a set of CIRS calibration phantoms.
SWE mode is available on the Vega® imaging system.
Learn more about how SWE could advance your research.
