Advances and Future Direction of Magnetic Resonance Elastography

The mechanical properties of soft tissues are closely associated with a variety of diseases. This motivates the development of elastography techniques in which tissue mechanical properties are quantitatively estimated through imaging. Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) is a noninvasive phase-contrast MR technique wherein shear modulus of soft tissue can be spatially and temporally estimated. MRE has recently received significant attention due to its capability in noninvasively estimating tissue mechanical properties, which can offer considerable diagnostic potential. In this work, recent technology advances of MRE, its future clinical applications, and the related limitations will be discussed.