Patent ID: 7553283

Claim:
A device for measuring elasticity of a human or animal organ, or viscoelastic environments presenting an ultrasonic signal after ultrasonic illumination and consecutively establishing a representation in two or three dimensions of the elasticity, comprising: at least one echographic or ultrasonic bar comprising a plurality of transducers configured to produce a planar image; an excitor that generates and delivers a low-frequency, between 5 Hz and 1000 Hz, direct or indirect applied force in the form of shear waves; a receiver that acquires ultrasonic signals, a controller that commands and processes data; a scanner configured to carry out scanning with the bar in one dimension (1D) or in two dimensions (2D) in two perpendicular directions, in order to focus three different points of elevation, based on a direction perpendicular to the plane of the image, respectively, for measuring a displacement field of the shear waves along the direction perpendicular to the plane of the image; and a processor configured to calculate a second derivative of the displacement field in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the image, to obtain a representation of the measure of the elasticity in two (2D) or three dimensions (3D).