Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE)is a medical imaging

Medical imaging

Medical imaging is the technique and process used to create images of the human body for clinical purposes or medical science...

 technique that images propagating mechanical wave

Mechanical wave

A mechanical or material wave is a wave that needs a medium to travel. The oscillating material does not move far from its initial equilibrium position, as only the energy is transferred by connected particles. Ocean waves and sound are examples of this phenomenon.A mechanical wave requires an...

s using MRI. It non-invasively measures the stiffness

Stiffness

Stiffness is the resistance of an elastic body to deformation by an applied force along a given degree of freedom when a set of loading points and boundary conditions are prescribed on the elastic body.-Calculations:...

 of biological tissues. Pathological tissues are often harder than the surrounding normal tissue. This has also been utilized in ablative treatments done with Focused Ultrasound

High intensity focused ultrasound

High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound is a highly precise medical procedure using high-intensity focused ultrasound to heat and destroy pathogenic tissue rapidly through ablation...

 where the treated necrosed

Necrosis

Necrosis is the premature death of cells in living tissue. Necrosis is caused by factors external to the cell or tissue, such as infection, toxins, or trauma. This is in contrast to apoptosis, which is a naturally occurring cause of cellular death...

tissue can be distinguished with MRE even in real time.

Magnetic resonance elastography was first introduced by Muthupillai et al. in 1995.