Ultrasound Imaging is one of the most popular ways to study and check for any medical abnormalities nowadays. Medical diagnosticians use a variety of devices for this, like shear wave research systems.
Additionally, people also use devices like Arbitrary Waveform Research Systems to run other diagnostic tests. However, one thing to note is that these devices are used for physics-based studies, whereas shear wave systems are used for medical purposes.
Let’s explore the latter in detail below.
What are Shear Wave Research Systems?
Basically, these are devices that can support the function of shear wave elastography or SWE. SWE is an ultrasound process that utilises shear waves to analyse the stiffness of tissues.
This process involves a device that sends our shear waves through the skin into the tissues at a certain velocity. The speed at which they travel is what helps these devices determine the stiffness of the tissues.
Key Applications of Shear Wave Research Systems
People use Shear Wave Research Systems for the following reasons:
Liver Diseases
Medical diagnosticians use these systems to check how stiff the liver is. The stiffness gives them an idea as to the severity of the disease. They use this information to draw up their diagnosis and take the required steps.
Some liver diseases that diagnosticians check for with the help of Shear Wave Research Systems are:
● Liver cirrhosis
● Hepatitis
● Bleeding of the gastro-intestinal tract
● Excessive build up of iron in your liver, or hemochromatosis, etc.
Arbitrary Waveform Research Systems work in a similar way. They transmit signals to map the strength of the singles from the receiving end. That’s how technicians determine the status of the devices they check the signals for.
Breast Cancer
You can use these systems to check for the presence of lesions or breast cancer cells since they can map the stiffness of tissues. Now, since these systems don’t use any invasive techniques, they are also quite safe and non-invasive
However, medical professionals don’t just check for breast cancer. They utilise to also check for various other types of cancer, and cancerous cells, like:
● Fibro-blastomic cancer
● Fibro-histiocyte cancer
● Skin cancer or vascular cancer, etc.
Health of muscles and skeletons
Just as Arbitrary Waveform Research Systems are used to test the responsive capabilities of devices, Shear Wave Research Systems are also used to observe the strength of your muscles and bones.
The devices send out shear waves. The diagnosticians observe the speed of these waves to determine the state of your muscles and skeletons.
For instance, if the waves travel slowly, that means your bone tissues or muscular tissues are stiff.
They observe the waves on their screens, and then proceed with their diagnosis. For instance, they might suggest calcium-based drugs if you have low bone density etc.
Lymph nodes
Normally, the cortex of lymph nodes is stiffer than the hilum. However, in case of a cancerous growth in those areas, the cortex becomes stiffer and changes shape. This is why Shear Wave Research Systems come in handy.
You can use them to check for the stiffness of these nodes.
However, SWE isn’t the only type of elastography. Let’s take a look at them below.
3 Different Types of Elastography
These are the types of elastography that you can use for your other needs apart from SWE:
Compression Elastography
This technique involves applying a regular amount of pressure or compression on the tissue with the help of an ultrasound transducer. This means the tissue is squeezed or deformed and it experiences an inward force.
You can view the effects of this compression via an elastogram on a screen.
Medical diagnosticians primarily use this form of elastography to detect the stiffness of tissues in the muscles and bones.
Tension Elastography
This style of elastography involves mechanically applying pressure on the tissues to check for signs of stiffness. However, unlike compression elastography, it uses a pull-force to apply pressure on the tissues.
This means that the outward force pulls the tissues apart. While not very commonly used, it’s a useful technique for when tension is more useful to determine tissue stiffness as opposed to compression.
Transient Elastography
For this technique, medical diagnosticians utilise Shear Wave Research Systems to generate shear waves that vibrate the skin. The speed or velocity of the waves is used to map the stiffness of tissue.
You can use this to map the stiffness of liver tissues since it’s a non-invasive method.
Key Takeaways
Thats is, you can use them to diagnose the tissue stiffness for the following issues:
So, as you can see, just like Arbitrary Waveform Research Systems, Shear Wave Research Systems are used for diagnostic purposes as well, though medically.
● Liver diseases
● Breast cancer
● The health of your skeletons and muscles
● Lymph nodes
Additionally, there are 3 main types of elastography techniques, one of them which requires Shear Wave Research Systems:
● Transient elastography
● Compression elastography
● Tension elastography
You should ensure that the devices that you buy or use should be top-notch and from the best company. Good luck!
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