Imaging of the mean frequency of the ultrasonic echoes

A standard USG image is in fact a visualization of a distribution of the reflexion coefficients.
There is an increasing interest in imaging of the different parameters, which might
characterize another physical properties of a tissue. The attenuation coefficient is one of such
parameters and theoretically it can be estimated using frequency shift of the RF signal. The frequency
shift results from dispersive character of the attenuation in tissue and is a function of
attenuation along the propagate path. In this work authors use echo’s mean frequency as an
imaging modality. The results of measurement of tissue phantom using 10 MHz linear array
are presented. The preliminary results are encouraging being the first attempt towards mapping
of the attenuation in tissue.