Patent ID: 11883239
Assignee: DUKE UNIVERSITY
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A  G | IPC A  G

Claim 9:
10. A method of generating a constructive shear wave for characterizing a region of interest, the method comprising
providing a transducer array comprising:
at least one annular shear wave generation transducer that defines an interior area; and
at least one tracking transducer positioned in the interior area of the at least one annular shear wave generation transducer; and

controlling the at least one annular shear wave generation transducer to generate a shear wave excitation to a region of interest such that the shear wave excitation excites at least a part of a corresponding cylindrical portion of the region of interest and shear waves propagating from the cylindrical portion of the region of interest constructively interfere in an interior region of the cylindrical portion of the region of interest; and
controlling the at least one tracking transducer positioned in the interior area to detect a shear wave in the interior region of the cylindrical portion of the region of interest;
wherein the cylindrical portion of the region of interest comprises at least first and second cylindrical portions having different radii, and the shear wave excitation comprises at least first and second shear wave excitations each having a different time delay such that the at least first and second shear wave excitations each excite the first and second cylindrical portions of the region of interest at the different radii.