Monitoring low-power heat deposition with elastography

Recently it has been shown that elastography accurately and precisely depicts the extent of thermally induced irreversible tissue damage. In this study, it is shown that low power energy deposition in tissue induces reversible changes in the tissue elastic properties detectable by elastography. For this purpose, an experimental system consisting of a Nichrome wire to generate low heat energy and a modified Diasonics ultrasound system to acquire elastographic data are used. For verification of the heated region, the echo-shift technique was applied to the same elastographic data.