Shear wave elasticity imaging using inverse filtering and multiple-point shear wave generation

Estimating shear wave speed enables quantifying tissue elasticity imaging using time-of-flight, but measurement of time-of-flight is based on an assumption about the propagating direction of a shear wave that is highly affected by reflection and refraction and thus might cause an artifact. An alternative shear elasticity estimation approach based on shear wavelength was proposed and applied to passive configurations. We propose a new method for shear wave elasticity imaging that combines the shear wavelength approach and 'active' acoustic pushing configuration, i.e., the multiple shear wave sources induced by acoustic radiation force (ARF). The feasibility of the proposed method was verified using an elasticity phantom with a hard inclusion.