Coupling quantitative ultrasound using echo envelop statistics and shear wave propagation to provide new image contrast of mimicked liver lesions

In quantitative ultrasound, biomarkers are sensitive to the scatterers’ positioning and number density, and therefore, shear wave (SW) propagation may modify their time-varying behaviors and provide new image contrast. Herein, we considered echo envelop statistics by using one parameter of the homodyned-K distribution (HKD): the diffuse-to-total signal power ratio 1/(κ+1). A liver lesion-mimicking phantom was simulated with an inclusion and a background of elastic moduli of 40 and 4 kPa, and scatterers’ number densities per resolution cell of 15 and 5, respectively. Ten sets of spatially correlated scatterers were created, and a plane SW was simulated to reposition time and spatially varying scatterers according to the SW motion. Ultrasound images were simulated using MUST with added Gaussian noise to attain 20-dB SNR. Dynamic and static analyses were made over 30 frames with and without SW motion, respectively. Validation was based on the contrast of 1/(κ+1) between the inclusion and the background. HKD image contrast increased with SW motion with values from 0.12 ± 0.10 to 0.48 ± 0.16 (no units) (p < 0.001). Results suggest that the variation in scatterers’ organization under SW propagation may provide new information over its static counterpart to enhance the contrast of liver lesions.