Bhaskara Chintada Rao has successfully defended his PhD thesis
The PhD thesis titled "Ultrasound-based Biomechanical Characterization of Nonlinear Tissue Viscoelasticity using Shear-Wave Elastography and Reflector-Based Computed Tomography" studies ultrasound-based measurement of nonlinearities in soft tissue viscoelastic behaviour as novel imaging biomarkers.
Tissue elasticity can be indication of pathological processes in tissues, such as the local stiffening due to breast and prostate cancers and liver fibrosis. Elasticity measurement using ultrasound is a relatively-recent, quantitative imaging method. Nevertheless the current methods assume a linear elastic response of the tissue. In this thesis, the nonlinear tissue behaviour is studied, together with its effects as a confounder in the currently established measurement techniques as well as its use as additional imaging biomarkers in clinical diagnosis.