Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA.
Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA.
Ultrason Imaging. 2023 Jul;45(4):206-214. doi: 10.1177/01617346231171147. Epub 2023 Apr 27.
Methods to assess ultrasound backscatter anisotropy from clinical array transducers have recently been developed. However, they do not provide information about the anisotropy of microstructural features of the specimens. This work develops a simple geometric model, referred to as the , of backscatter coefficient anisotropy. Specifically, we evaluate anisotropy of the frequency dependence of the backscatter coefficient parameterized in terms of effective scatterer size. We assess the model in phantoms with known scattering sources and in a skeletal muscle, a well-known anisotropic tissue. We demonstrate that the secant model can determine the orientation of the anisotropic scatterers, as well as accurately determining effective scatterer sizes, and it may classify isotropic versus anisotropic scatterers. The secant model may find utility in monitoring disease progression as well as characterizing normal tissue architectures.
目前已经开发出了从临床阵列换能器评估超声背向散射各向异性的方法。然而，这些方法并没有提供关于样本微结构特征各向异性的信息。本工作开发了一种简单的几何模型，称为背散射系数各向异性的 ，。具体来说，我们根据有效散射体尺寸对背散射系数参数化的频率依赖性进行各向异性评估。我们在具有已知散射源的体模和骨骼肌（一种已知的各向异性组织）中评估了该模型。我们证明了割线模型可以确定各向异性散射体的方向，以及准确确定有效散射体尺寸，并且可以对各向同性散射体与各向异性散射体进行分类。割线模型可能有助于监测疾病的进展，以及对正常组织结构进行特征描述。
