Lorentz Force Megahertz Optical Coherence Elastography

摘要

Optical Coherence Elastography (OCE) is a rapidly developing technique for assessing tissue biomechanical properties. This study demonstrates the first use of the Lorentz force to induce elastic waves within tissue to quantify the elasticity of tissue in combination with a phase-sensitive OCE system at ～1.5 million A-scans per second. The feasibility of this technique was tested on tissue-mimicking agar phantoms of various concentrations. The results as assessed by OCE were in good agreement with standard mechanical testing of the samples. After the preliminary experiments, the stiffness of porcine liver was examined. The results demonstrate that Lorentz force MHz OCE can be applied to study the elasticity of biological tissue effectively and has the potential for clinical applications due to rapid excitation and imaging.