Method of improved scatterer size estimation and application to parametric imaging using ultrasound.

The frequency dependence of RF signals backscattered from random media (tissues) has been used to describe the microstructure of the media. The frequency dependence of the backscattered RF signal is seen in the power spectrum. Estimates of scatterer properties (average scatterer size) from an interrogated medium are made by minimizing the average squared deviation (MASD) between the measured power spectrum and a theoretical power spectrum over an analysis bandwidth. Estimates of the scatterer properties become increasingly inaccurate as the average signal to noise ratio (SNR) over the analysis bandwidth becomes smaller. Some frequency components in the analysis bandwidth of the measured power spectrum will have smaller SNR than other frequency components. The accuracy of estimates can be improved by weighting the frequency components that have the smallest SNR less than the frequencies with the largest SNR in the MASD. A weighting function is devised that minimizes the noise effects on the estimates of the average scatterer sizes. Simulations and phantom experiments are conducted that show the weighting function gives improved estimates in an attenuating medium. The weighting function is applied to parametric images using scatterer size estimates of a rat that had developed a spontaneous mammary tumor.