Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) was introduced in the mid-1990s, and multiple clinical applications have been investigated.
In MRE, a mechanical vibrator is used on the surface of the patient's body; this creates shear waves that travel into the patient's deeper tissues.
An imaging acquisition sequence that measures the velocity of the waves is used, and this is used to infer the tissue's stiffness (the shear modulus).
The result of an MRE scan is a quantitative 3-D map of the tissue stiffness, as well as a conventional 3-D MRI image.

One strength of MRE is the resulting 3D elasticity map, which can cover an entire organ.
Because MRI is not limited by air or bone, it can access some tissues ultrasound cannot, notably the brain.
It also has the advantage of being more uniform across operators and less dependent on operator skill than most methods of ultrasound elastography.

MR elastography has made significant advances over the past few years with acquisition times down to a minute or less and has been used in a variety of medical applications including cardiology research on living human hearts.
MR elastography's short acquisition time also make it competitive with other elastography techniques.
Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) was introduced in the mid-1990s, and multiple clinical applications have been investigated. In MRE, a mechanical vibrator is used on the surface of the patient's body; this creates shear waves that travel into the patient's deeper tissues. An imaging acquisition sequence that measures the velocity of the waves is used, and this is used to infer the tissue's stiffness (the shear modulus). The result of an MRE scan is a quantitative 3-D map of the tissue stiffness, as well as a conventional 3-D MRI image.
One strength of MRE is the resulting 3D elasticity map, which can cover an entire organ. Because MRI is not limited by air or bone, it can access some tissues ultrasound cannot, notably the brain. It also has the advantage of being more uniform across operators and less dependent on operator skill than most methods of ultrasound elastography.
MR elastography has made significant advances over the past few years with acquisition times down to a minute or less and has been used in a variety of medical applications including cardiology research on living human hearts. MR elastography's short acquisition time also make it competitive with other elastography techniques.
Elastography