In vivo biomicroscopy with ultrasound.

We propose the use of inverse scattering theory methods to analyse high frequency ultrasound reflection data to provide high resolution images of living tissue. Conventional ultrasound imaging uses the pulse-echo method which can only resolve structures which are large compared to the wavelength of the ultrasound. Inverse scattering analysis, on the other hand, can image details as small as a quarter wavelength. This makes possible a significant improvement in resolution and has many potential applications in the detection and study of disease. We report here results obtained using this method to produce images of the retina, where we were able to resolve details as small as 50 micron in a 300 micron layer.