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TOPICAL COLLECTIONS

Soft Tissue Elastography: Principles, Techniques, and Applications

Guest Editor

Yanping Cao

Tsinghua University

<p>Professor Yanping Cao is a tenured professor in the Department of Engineering Mechanics at Tsinghua University and has been the director of its Institute of Biomechanics and Medical Engineering since 2020. He earned his B.S., M.S., and PhD in engineering mechanics from Tsinghua University, followed by postdoctoral training in France and Germany under leading scholars. Returning to Tsinghua in 2008, he became a full professor in 2014. His research applies mechanics theories and modeling methods to science and technology, with major contributions in ultrasound elastography mechanics, indentation mechanics, and the instability mechanics of soft materials. He has developed shear-wave imaging techniques for assessing the mechanical properties of soft tissues, advanced indentation methods for material characterization, and elucidated instability mechanisms in soft matter. Author of over 170 peer-reviewed papers, he has received the National Natural Science Award (2019) and the Ministry of Education’s Natural Science Award (2017), and is recognized as an Elsevier Highly Cited Chinese Researcher.</p>

Collection Overview

The onset and progression of many diseases are often accompanied by changes in the mechanical properties of the human body across various scales. Measuring tissue material parameters in vivo has a wide range of clinical applications, including monitoring liver fibrosis, assessing arterial stiffness, identifying stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD), and detecting cancer. Ultrasound elastography, including strain and shear wave elastography, allows for the evaluation of mechanical properties in superficial and deep soft tissues under healthy and pathological conditions. This collection features several novel elastography methods that may enhance the clinical application of this emerging technique.