A Dual-Modal Imaging Method Combining Ultrasound and Electromagnetism for Simultaneous Measurement of Tissue Elasticity and Electrical Conductivity

The mechanical and electrical properties of soft tissues are relative to soft tissues’ pathological state. Modern medical imaging devices have shown a trend to multi-modal imaging, which will provide complementary functional information to improve the accuracy of disease diagnosis. However, no method or system can simultaneously measure the mechanical and electrical properties of the soft tissue. In this study, we proposed a novel dual-modal imaging method integrated by shear wave elasticity imaging (SWEI) and Magneto-acousto-electrical tomography (MAET) to measure soft tissue's elasticity and conductivity simultaneously. A dual-modal imaging system based on a linear array transducer is built, and the imaging performances of MAET and SWEI were respectively evaluated by phantoms experiment and in vitro experiment. Conductivity phantom experiments show that the MAET in this dual-modal system can image conductivity gradient as low as 0.4 S/m. The phantom experiments show that the reconstructed 2-D elasticity maps of the phantoms with inclusions with a diameter larger than 5 mm are relatively accurate. In vitro experiments show that the elasticity parameter can significantly distinguish the changes in tissue before and after heating. This study first proposes a method that can simultaneously obtain tissue elasticity and electrical conductivity to the best of our knowledge. Although this paper just carried out the proof of concept experiments of the new method, it demonstrates great potential for disease diagnosis in the future.