December 13, 2011 – Hitachi Aloka Medical displayed the world’s first 4-D ultrasound elastography feature at the Radiological Society of North America’s (RSNA) annual meeting this year. The feature, available only on the company’s Hi Vision Ascendus system, uses conventional volume ultrasound probes to create live 3-D images depicting the relative stiffness of tissue. Because certain disease processes often modify the elasticity of tissue, 2-D Elastography has been recognized as a useful tool in the characterization of tissue. Hitachi Aloka’s 4-D implementation extends this utility by allowing clinicians to better visualize the 3-D distribution of stiffness in real-time.
Since introducing the world’s first commercially-available elastography system in 2003, Hitachi Aloka has remained on the forefront of elastography research. According to Matthew Ernst, marketing Manager for Hitachi Aloka Medical America’s radiology division, the company has been working towards 4-D for some time. “There has been considerable research into this capability over the past few years, but to make it a reality, we had to develop a system fast enough to perform the immense number of real-time computations required,” said Ernst. “The Ascendus, with its high-powered back-end was literally tailor-made for this purpose.”
For more information: www.hitachi-aloka.com
February 05, 2026 
