The Gaussian shear wave in a dispersive medium.

In "imaging the biomechanical properties of tissues," a number of approaches analyze shear wave propagation initiated by a short radiation force push. Unfortunately, it has been experimentally observed that the displacement-versus-time curves for lossy tissues are rapidly damped and distorted in ways that can confound simple tracking approaches. This article addresses the propagation, decay and distortion of pulses in lossy and dispersive media, to derive closed-form analytic expressions for the propagating pulses. The theory identifies key terms that drive the distortion and broadening of the pulse. Furthermore, the approach taken is not dependent on any particular viscoelastic model of tissue, but instead takes a general first-order approach to dispersion. Examples with a Gaussian beam pattern and realistic dispersion parameters are given along with general guidelines for identifying the features of the distorting wave that are the most compact.