Patent ID: 7632230

Claim:
A method of high-resolution ultrasonic elastography comprising the steps of: (a) obtaining a pre-compression and post-compression ultrasonic data set of an imaged object; (b) making a first comparison of the pre-compression and post-compression data at a plurality of corresponding first pre-compression regions and first post-compression regions to determine a coarse-displacement of material of the imaged object resulting from compression, the first comparison shifting a given first pre-compression region with respect to at least one first post-compression region to determine the coarse-displacement as a location where the shifting produces greatest correlation; (c) using the determined coarse-displacements to identify second post-compression regions smaller than the first post-compression regions and corresponding to a plurality of second pre-compression regions within each first pre-compression region; (d) making a second comparison of the pre-compression and post-compression data within the plurality of second pre-compression regions and corresponding second post-compression regions to determine a finer displacement of material of the imaged object resulting from compression, the second comparison shifting a given second pre-compression region with respect to at least one second post-compression region, the at least one second post-compression region identified using the coarse displacement, to determine the fine-displacement as a location where the shifting produces greatest correlation; and (e) outputting an elastographic image based on the finer displacement.