Multi-scale quantitative elastography and its application to blood pressure estimation
Elastography is a method that can be used to measure
the elasticity of soft biological tissue and, ultimately, to detect
cancerous tumors. In this thesis, quantitative compression based
ultrasound elastography is developed using a fast multi-scale
approach. The inverse problem optimization methods of elastography
are applied to estimate noninvasively the arterial wall stiffness
of a vessel as well as blood pressure. Simulation and experimental
results are presented that predict the accuracy of the methods. A
method is also introduced to eliminate the need for a reference
pressure during the optimization over blood pressure. Using
ultrasound, these techniques could provide noninvasive continuous
measurement of blood pressure in major arteries and could give
doctors another way to gather information about a patients
cardiovascular health.