Traditionally, lung ultrasound has been considered unsuitable for internal imaging due to the significant acoustic impedance mismatch introduced by air-filled structures. However, recent advances have enabled the diagnostic use of ultrasound artifacts—particularly B-lines—for the semi-quantitative assessment of pulmonary diseases such as pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). This study introduces a method that combines lung ultrasound with continuous shear wave elastography (C-SWE) to quantify lung tissue elasticity. Phantom experiments using artificial alveolar models demonstrated the feasibility of estimating shear wave velocity based on the phase analysis of B-lines. Further validation using a bleomycin-induced goat lung fibrosis model yielded shear wave velocities comparable to those reported with MR elastography. Additionally, high-resolution imaging of pleural and chest wall layers provided insights into localized mechanical changes associated with inflammation. These results suggest that the proposed method could enable real-time, bedside functional assessment of lung pathology using compact and portable ultrasound devices. Future research will focus on challenges such as tissue density estimation, noise robustness, and clinical validation. This method holds promise as a noninvasive, radiation-free diagnostic tool for evaluating acute lung conditions in emergency and home care settings.
Koda et al. (Wed,) studied this question.