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Wearable shearwave elastography device for evaluation of muscle function

Company: PSU - Mechanical Engineering

Major(s):
Primary: BME
Secondary: EE
Optional: CMPEN, ME

Non-Disclosure Agreement: NO

Intellectual Property: NO

Shear wave elatography (SWE) is an ultrasonic method in which shear wave speed is used to evaluate the shear modulus (stiffness) of a tissue. Shear waves travel faster in tissues with a higher shear modulus. Shear wave can be generated using high-intensity focused ultrasound pulses. The speed of the waves can also be measured using ultrasound pulses and signal processing. SWE is emerging as a promising technique to measure forces from individual muscles. It has been shown that active and passive forces are linearly proportional to the change in shear modulus during muscle contraction. This proportionality can enable evaluation of the function of individual muscles without the need of models and assumptions, which is difficult to do with traditional biomechanics methods. Unfortunately, SWE in muscles has only been using clinical ultrasound scanners and static body tasks. Clinical ultrasound transducers are difficult to attach to the body and the cord connecting the transducer to the scanner limits the ability of the subject of performing dynamic tasks. A wearable ultrasound SWE device can potentially solve the limitations of the current elastography method. Such device can be instrumental in studying several musculoskeletal pathologies characterized by the dysfunction or deterioration of one muscle within a group of agonist muscles.