Viscosity measurement based on shear-wave laser speckle contrast analysis

Tissue viscosity is correlated with tissue pathological changes and provides information for tissue characterization. In this study, we report an optical method to track continuous shear-wave propagation at centimeter depths in an optically turbid medium. Shear-wave attenuation coefficients were measured at multiple frequencies using shear-wave laser speckle contrast analysis (SW-LASCA) to quantitatively estimate tissue viscosity using the Voigt model. Shear waves were generated within tissue-mimicking phantoms by an amplitude-modulated ultrasound (modulation frequency: 100 to 600 Hz) and tracked by time-resolved laser speckle contrast difference received on a charged-coupled device camera. Averaged contrast difference over a selected time window was related to shear-wave amplitude and used to calculate the shear-wave attenuation coefficient. Phantoms of varying viscosities (0.1 and 0.3 Pa s) were studied. Attenuation coefficients for different shear-wave frequencies (100 to 600 Hz) were calculated. Derived viscosity values had a maximum standard deviation of 9%, and these values were consistent with the independent measurements reported in a previous study using nonoptical methods.