Patent ID: 9687145
Date: 2017-06-27
CPC Classifications: A61B

Claim:
1. A method for measuring tissue stiffness and for differentiating tissue samples using optical coherence elastography, comprising: inducing elastic waves in the tissue samples; detecting properties of the waves using interferometry, low coherence interferometry, or optical coherence tomography at different measurement positions along the waves, wherein the detected properties include measured wave velocities and measured wave displacement amplitudes and/or using temporal analysis of the elastic wave displacement profile; determining elasticities of the tissue samples using the measured wave velocities dispersion, and attenuation; differentiating the tissue samples having different measured wave velocities; normalizing the measured wave displacement amplitudes for the tissue samples having similar measured wave velocities and needing further differentiation to produce normalized wave displacement data; using the normalized wave displacement data to identify tissue samples having faster wave attenuation and slower wave attenuation; and classifying the tissue samples having faster wave attenuation as tissue sample having increased viscosity and reduced stiffness and the tissue samples having slower wave attenuation as tissue samples having reduced viscosity and increased stiffness.