Perspectives on Attenuation Estimation from Pulse-Echo Signals

Invited Paper Abstruct-Attenuation is an important parameter in the description prehensions of the physical and computational foundations of the propagation of an ultrasonic pulse in tissue. Since attenuation of the technioues. has been shown to be influenced by tissue state and pathology it also an important factor in the development of quantitative techniques for the measurement of ultrasonic tissue parameters and/or the display of ultrasonic tissue signatures (ultrasonic tissue characterization). Although attenuation is intrinsically defined in terms of a transmission measurement, it can be estimated from an analysis of the backscattered echo waveform. The development of such estimates is fundamentally a problem for digital signal processing. Recent advances in ultrasound instrumentation and computing technology have made the development of attenuation estimation from backscattering practical, thereby suggesting the feasibility of in vivo measurement of attenuation, and creating a popular and important area for research and development. Here we provide a perspective of the estimation of attenuation from pulse-echo signals, and overview the various attenuation estimation techniques proposed to date.

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