Synopsis

Keywords: Contrast mechanisms: Elastography

This lecture will introduce the fundamentals of tissue stiffness and its measurement using Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE). The basics of linear elasticity, such as stress, strain, and shear modulus, will be covered. Wave propagation in materials will be discussed along with the wave equation. Representations of tissue stiffness, i.e., shear stiffness, wave speed, complex modulus, etc., and their physical meanings will also be discussed. Theory and implementations of MRE will be presented. Finally, the inversion algorithms (e.g., direct inversion, local field estimation, finite element method, and machine learning) to estimate tissue stiffness will be discussed.