Stretchable ultrasonic arrays for the three-dimensional mapping of the modulus of deep tissue
Hongjie Hu, Yuxiang Ma, Xiaoxiang Gao, Dawei Song, Mohan Li, Hao Huang, Xuejun Qian, Ray S. Wu, Keren Shi, Hong Ding, Muyang Lin, Xiangjun Chen, Wenbo Zhao, Baiyan Qi, Sai Zhou, Ruimin Chen, Yue Gu, Yimu Chen, Yusheng Lei, Chonghe Wang, Chunfeng Wang, Yitian Tong, Haotian Cui, Abdulhameed Abdal, Yangzhi Zhu, Xinyu Tian, Zhaoxin Chen, Chengchangfeng Lu, Xinyi Yang, Jing Mu, Zhiyuan Lou, Mohammad Eghtedari, Qifa Zhou, Assad A. Oberai, Sheng Xu
Abstract
Serial assessment of the biomechanical properties of tissues can be used to aid the early detection and management of pathophysiological conditions, to track the evolution of lesions and to evaluate the progress of rehabilitation. However, current methods are invasive, can be used only for short-term measurements, or have insufficient penetration depth or spatial resolution. Here we describe a stretchable ultrasonic array for performing serial non-invasive elastographic measurements of tissues up to 4 cm beneath the skin at a spatial resolution of 0.5 mm. The array conforms to human skin and acoustically couples with it, allowing for accurate elastographic imaging, which we validated via magnetic resonance elastography. We used the device to map three-dimensional distributions of the Young's modulus of tissues ex vivo, to detect microstructural damage in the muscles of volunteers before the onset of soreness and to monitor the dynamic recovery process of muscle injuries during physiotherapies. The technology may facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of diseases affecting tissue biomechanics.