Novel estimation method for shear wave displacement amplitude excited by vibrator

We have proposed a continuous shear wave elastography method (color Doppler shear wave imaging, CD SWI). Although this imaging method is real-time shear wave visualization in shear wave elastography, the imaging parameter is restricted to the phase of the shear wave (SW). In this paper, a novel SW amplitude estimation method, which can be used simultaneously with the CD SWI, is proposed. This method considers the dependence of the duty ratio of the fringe pattern, which appears on the color flow image, on the SW amplitude. Although calibration is required for each imaging system in advance because the duty ratio also depends on the parameters of an imaging system such as a moving target identification (MTI) filter, the proposed method provides a useful SW displacement estimation means suited for CD SWI elastography.