Magnetresonanz-Elastographie

This thesis presents an overview of the functional and technical principles of the Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE) as well as its clinical applications. Magnetic Resonance Elastography is a method for the non-invasive determination of tissue stiffness. As first part of this thesis the underlying principles of the MRE are explained. These consist of the production of shear waves by using a vibration applicator and the measurement of the shear wave distribution with MR phase-difference images. Subsequently several mathematical algorithms and biophysical assumption are discussed for the calculation of the tissue shear stiffness. In the following part of the thesis a number of clinical applications for the MRE are shown, which have been investigated by several research groups. The application of MRE to liver disease and its application to diagnose liver fibrosis is explained in more detail in a special chapter. Finally, first results of a liver MRE examination using a Work-In-Progress package for Magnetic Resonance Elastography are shown.