METHOD FOR GENERATING TRANSVERSE ELASTIC WAVES, AND METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ACQUIRING IMAGES USING TRANSVERSE ELASTIC WAVES

摘要

The present invention relates to a method for generating transverse elastic waves, and to a method and apparatus for acquiring images using transverse elastic waves. According to the present invention, a technique is disclosed in which ultrasonic signals focused to respective multiple focuses virtually existing in a viscoelastic medium generate transverse elastic waves using said multiple focuses as wave sources, and overlapped points of the peaks of the thus-generated transverse elastic waves advance side by side along two lines which are parallel to each other or which form an acute angle therebetween, to thereby increase the elastic strain of the viscoelastic medium from a predetermined level in an easy manner, and thus acquiring images with improved accuracy in the viscoelastic medium.