• Multimodal Elastography: Synergistic Approaches for Advanced Tissue Characterization
  • Mohammadreza Elhaie,1,* Abolfazl Koozari,2 Iraj Abedi,3
    1. Department of Medical Physics, School of Medicine Isfahan University of Medical Sciences
    2. Department of Medical Physics, School of Medicine Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences
    3. Department of Medical Physics, School of Medicine Isfahan University of Medical Sciences


  • Introduction: Elastography, the imaging of mechanical tissue properties, has emerged as a powerful tool for characterizing pathological conditions and evaluating tissue health. While individual elastography modalities, such as magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) and ultrasound elastography, have demonstrated clinical utility, the combination of complementary modalities through multimodal elastography approaches has the potential to provide unprecedented insights into tissue biomechanics.
  • Methods: To review recent developments in multimodal elastography, a comprehensive search was conducted across several databases, including PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. The search strategy involved combinations of keywords such as "multimodal elastography," "multimodal imaging," "magnetic resonance elastography," "ultrasound elastography," "optical elastography," "data fusion," and "tissue biomechanics." The search was limited to peer-reviewed articles published in English within the last five years. Additionally, reference lists of relevant articles were manually examined to identify additional studies of interest.
  • Results: Multimodal elastography leverages the strengths of different imaging modalities to overcome the limitations of individual techniques. For example, the high spatial resolution of ultrasound elastography can be fused with the excellent soft tissue contrast and whole-body coverage of MRE, enabling comprehensive characterization of pathologies throughout the body. Additionally, the integration of optical elastography with MRE or ultrasound enables high-resolution microscopic elasticity mapping correlated with macroscopic observations. These strategies have shown promise in diverse applications, such as improving the specificity of liver fibrosis staging, characterizing heterogeneous tumors, and evaluating neurodegenerative disorders.
  • Conclusion: Despite the potential benefits, multimodal elastography faces challenges in data acquisition, registration, reconstruction, and interpretation. Ongoing research efforts are focused on developing robust frameworks for data fusion, establishing standardized protocols, and validating multimodal biomarkers through clinical studies. In summary, multimodal elastography combines the strengths of multiple imaging modalities, offering a powerful and comprehensive approach to tissue characterization. As this field continues to evolve, multimodal elastography is poised to provide new insights into tissue biomechanics and enable advanced diagnostic and therapeutic applications.
  • Keywords: Elastography, multimodal imaging, magnetic resonance elastography, ultrasound elastography,