• Qingshan Chen, Stacie I Ringleb, Armando Manduca, Richard L Ehman, and Kai-Nan An.
• Department of Orthopaedics, Biomechanics Laboratory, Division of Orthopedic Research, 128 Guggenheim Building, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
• J Biomech. 2005 Nov 1; 38 (11): 2198-203.

AbstractMagnetic resonance elastography (MRE) is a novel non-invasive approach to determine material stiffness by using a conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system incorporated with an oscillating motion-sensitizing gradient to detect nodal displacements produced by a shear excitation wave. The effects of material properties, excitation frequency, boundary conditions, and applied tension on shear wavelength measurement must be examined before MRE can become a useful diagnostic tool. We propose finite element (FE) modeling as a robust method to systematically study the effects of these parameters. An axisymmetric FE model was generated with ABAQUS to simulate agarose gel phantoms. The effects of material stiffness, density, and excitation frequency on propagating shear wavelength were examined individually. The effect of the boundary conditions on shear wavelength was also demonstrated. Results of shear wavelength from MRE measurement were compared with the results of FE model, which showed good agreement between the methods.

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