Miniaturization of External Mechanical Vibration for Ultrasound Shear Wave Elastography Imaging

A mechanical vibration source for a shear wave elastography system has a contact surface shaped to provide a point source of mechanical energy when striking a target surface of a medium. This point source usefully mitigates high frequency components and other artifacts in an induced shear wave. Other techniques may be used in combination with this mechanical energy source to improve shear wave elastography and facilitate miniaturization for deployment, e.g., within a handheld imaging device.