Tomographic images of tissue phantoms and a sample of breast tissue have been produced from an acoustic synthetic array system for frequencies near 500 kHz. The images for sound speed and attenuation show millimeter resolution and demonstrate the feasibility of obtaining high-resolution tomographic images with frequencies that can deeply penetrate tissue. The image reconstruction method is based on the Born approximation to acoustic scattering and is a simplified version of a method previously used by Andre (Andre, et. al., Int. J. Imaging Systems and Technology, Vol 8, No. 1, 1997) for a circular acoustic array system. The images have comparable resolution to conventional ultrasound images at much higher frequencies (3-5 MHz) but with lower speckle noise. This shows the potential of low frequency, deeply penetrating, ultrasound for high-resolution quantitative imaging.

Date Published: 11 April 2002
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 4687, Medical Imaging 2002: Ultrasonic Imaging and Signal Processing, (11 April 2002); doi: 10.1117/12.462181

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 4687:
Medical Imaging 2002: Ultrasonic Imaging and Signal Processing
Michael F. Insana; William F. Walker, Editor(s)