Ultrasonic tissue characterization: A Review

Present medical ultrasound systems are based on envelope detection methods and therefore display only echo intensity information. However, phase information is also recorded by the transducer which is a pressure‐sensitive device, but is not utilized in commercial display or measurement schemes. This additional information may be of diagnostic significance since the interaction between sound and tissue acoustical properties can be correlated with specific pathological states. Thus, in principle, in vivo techniques could be devised which would extract and separate the medically significant features of the ultrasound interactions with tissue and would display ultrasonic tissue signatures appropriate for a differential diagnosis. The development of such quantitative techniques for the measurement of ultrasonic tissue parameters and/or the display of ultrasonic tissue signatures has become known as ultrasonic tissue characterization. In this paper we review the physical basis for ultrasonic tissue characteriza...