Abstract: Ultrasonic shear wave imaging technology provides the elastic information of the soft tissue by examining the propagation of the shear waves in the tissue. The possibility of using ultrasonic shear wave imaging technology combined with a directional filter for the detection of liver rupture was explored. The COMSOL Multiphysics software was used to simulate the generation and propagation of the shear waves in the liver medium with a rupture, a directional filter-based algorithm was applied to separate the incident wave and reflected wave, and an edge detection algorithm was applied to detect and delineate the liver rupture. Preliminary results indicate that a directional filter and edge detection algorithm could detect and delineate the front edge of the rupture, with an error less than 1%. The ultrasonic shear wave imaging combined with a directional filter approach makes up for the shortcomings of solving the inversion problem to reconstruct the elasticity map, and holds promises for the low ultrasonic SNR (Signal Noise Ratio) case and for improving the sensitivity of ultrasonic diagnosis of blunt liver trauma as a valuable assistive imaging tool for clinical practice.

Key words: ultrasonic shear wave, liver rupture, simulation, detection