Tissue Mechanics-based Algorithm for Improving Strain Imaging in Ultrasound Elastography

Ultrasound Elastography (USE) is a breast cancer diagnostic method, and uses the fact that tumours are stiffer than surrounding breast tissue for their detection. While USE is accessible and inexpensive, the images it produces, especially of lateral strains, are of low quality. The accuracy of strain images can be improved by applying tissue mechanics-based constraints. Our objective was to improve our existing algorithm by expanding on tissue deformation compatibility through including the full set of strain compatibility equations.