SEMINAR: Ultrasound Elasticity Imaging and Therapeutics

Abstract:

Elasticity imaging techniques aim at the detection of tissue abnormalities following an external, internal or inherent mechanical stimulation. By taking advantage of the additional depth information provided by ultrasound imaging, the local tissue response (i.e., displacement, strain and/or vibration amplitude) that depends on its mechanical properties can be imaged. After introducing methods for 2D and 3D strain estimation, examples will be shown on imaging of normal and pathological myocardium in finite-element models and in vivo murine, canine and human subjects. Elasticity Imaging developed by our group also expands to Pulse Wave Imaging for the characterization of abdominal aortic aneurysms and atherosclerotic plaques in vivo, Electromechanical Wave Imaging for the assessment of the conduction properties of the myocardium and the radiation-force-based oscillatory technique of Harmonic Motion Imaging (HMI) for the characterization of breast and pancreatic tumors during tumor progression as well as after chemotherapeutic treatment.
In the second part of this lecture, therapeutic ultrasound techniques will be introduced together with application of elasticity imaging for simultaneous monitoring of the treatment procedures. Most precisely, Focused Ultrasound (FUS) for ablation of tumors substantially modifies the tissue stiffness by up to a ten-fold in order to annihilate their function. By monitoring this stiffness change, HMI can successfully detect the temperature rise and coagulation onset during treatment. An all ultrasound-based system providing simultaneous tumor detection and treatment application as well as monitoring will be described. Finally, brain applications for drug delivery through the opening of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) for brain drug delivery in conjunction with microbubbles will be shown as well as neuromodulation of both the peripheral and central nervous system.

Biography:

Dr. Elisa Konofagou is currently a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Radiology and is also the Director of the Ultrasound and Elasticity Imaging Laboratory at Columbia University. She is a member of the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control group; the Acoustical Society of America; and the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.
Prof. Konofagou received her B.Sc. (Licence) in chemical physics from the Paris VI University (Université de Pierre et Marie Curie; Paris, France) and her M.Sc. in biomedical engineering from Imperial College (London, UK) in 1992 and 1993, respectively.
In 1999, Prof. Konofagou received her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the University of Houston (Houston, TX, USA) for her work in elastography at the University of Texas Medical School. She then carried out postdoctoral work in elasticity-based monitoring of focused ultrasound therapy at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Boston, MA, USA), an affiliate of the Harvard Medical School.
Prof. Konofagou’s main interests are in the development of novel elasticity imaging techniques and applications, such as breast elastography, ligament elastography, electromechanical wave imaging (EWI), myocardial elastography, harmonic motion imaging, pulse wave imaging (PWI), and focused ultrasound therapy, in particular research on the blood-brain barrier opening. Prof. Konofagou maintains several close clinical collaborations in the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center.