QUANTITATIVE ULTRASOUND IMAGING - IN-VIVO RESULTS IN NORMAL LIVER

A method for quantitative imaging of ultrasonic backscatter levels has been implemented on a clinical imager. The method is based on compari ng echo signal data from a sample or patient to echo data processed in the same way but acquired from a reference phantom. The attenuation c oefficient and the backscatter coefficient of the reference phantom ar e known, permitting these quantities to be estimated for the sample. I n the present paper, the spatial location of echo data acquisition is retained in the backscatter data analysis; quantitative ''backscatter estimator'' images are constructed, from which the backscatter coeffic ient over a region of interest may be obtained. When applied to human liver images, backscatter coefficients determined in 10 normal subject s were in approximate agreement with in vitro liver backscatter coeffi cients reported by previous workers. (C) 1993 Academic Press, Inc.