Preliminary results of attenuation estimation from tissue backscatter using commercial ultrasonic scanner

Ultrasonography (USG) is a widespread and powerful tool used successfully in modern diagnostics. The standard USG scanner reflects impedance variations within the tissue that is penetrated by the ultrasound pulse. Although such image provides a lot of information to the physician, there are another parameters which could be imaged. The attenuation coefficient is one of them. Imaging of attenuation seems to be a promising tool for ultrasonic medical diagnostics. The attenuation estimation method based on the echoes mean frequency changes due to tissue attenuation dispersion is presented. The Doppler IQ technique is adopted to estimate the mean frequency changes directly from the raw RF data. The Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) technique is used for the mean frequency trend extraction. The changes of the mean frequency trend are related directly to the local attenuation coefficient. Preliminary results of the tissue phantom attenuation coefficient estimation and imaging using the commercial scanner are presented.