A SIMULATION ALGORITHM FOR ULTRASOUND LIVER BACKSCATTERED SIGNALS

In this study, we present a simulation algorithm for the backscattered ultrasound signal from liver tissue. The algorithm simulates backscat tered signals from normal liver and three different liver abnormalitie s. The performance of the algorithm has been tested by statistically c omparing the simulated signals with corresponding signals obtained fro m a previous in vivo study. To verify that the simulated signals can b e classified correctly we have applied a classification technique base d on an artificial neural network. The acoustic features extracted fro m the spectrum over a 2.5 MHz bandwidth are the attenuation coefficien t and the change of speed of sound with frequency (dispersion). Our re sults show that the algorithm performs satisfactorily. Further testing of the algorithm is conducted by the use of a data acquisition and an alysis system designed by the authors, where several simulated signals are stored in memory chips and classified according to their abnormal ities.