Online Learning Module
Shear Wave Elastography for Myocardial Stiffness Assessment
Shear wave elastography (SWE) infers myocardial stiffness (MS) from the velocity of a shear (transverse mechanical) wave in cardiac tissue. The physics behind that measurement is rarely covered in clinical training. These modules bridge that gap, tracing the biology, wave mechanics, and acquisition workflow that connect the myocardium to its stiffness value on your screen.
Learning Objectives
What You'll Learn in Module 3
Explain the difference between compressional and shear waves, and why shear wave velocity reflects myocardial stiffness.
Describe how acoustic radiation force and mechanical events during valve closure generate localized shear waves in myocardial tissue.
Explain why ultrafast frame rates above 1,000 fps are required to measure the velocity of shear wave.
Identify how viscoelasticity, anisotropy, and wall geometry affect shear wave measurements and their interpretation.
Modules
Select a Module
Module 1 · Coming Soon
Tissue Biology & Cardiac Structure
The cellular and extracellular determinants of passive myocardial stiffness — titin, collagen, fibrosis — and how pathological remodeling changes tissue mechanics.
Module 2 · Coming Soon
Material Physics & Elastic Behavior
Stress, strain, and elastic moduli in biological soft tissue. Covers the continuum mechanics framework for stiffness quantification and the near-incompressibility assumption underlying E ≈ 3μ.
Module 3 · Active
Ultrafast Ultrasound & Shear Wave Elastography
How shear waves are produced, why ultrafast frame rates are required to track them, and how propagation velocity maps to shear modulus via μ = ρc².
Module 4 · Coming Soon
Clinical Interpretation & Applications
Applying shear wave velocity measurements to diastolic dysfunction, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and pediatric cardiac assessment, including age-appropriate reference ranges and measurement caveats.