Original contribution
Angle-dependent backscatter from the arterial wall

https://doi.org/10.1016/0301-5629(91)90119-HGet rights and content

Abstract

The anisotropic nature of intra-arterial echographic images is reported, and the source of this anisotropy is investigated using postmortem human iliac arteries. A 27 MHz transducer, mounted on an ultrasonic microscope, is used to quantify the angular dependence of the backscatter power versus the angle of incidence, and these results are correlated with histological findings. Besides the observed differences in the acoustic response of morphologically different tissues, significant variations in backscatter power are found in both media and internal elastic lamina due to variations in the angle of incidence. This angle dependence is caused by the dominant orientation of fibers in tissue layers and by the shape and size of various scattering particles. The results indicate that long microscopic structures with one main orientation are responsible for the backscattered signal and that the angular-dependent response is related to the histologically determined orientation of these fibers. These results may have an impact on the assessment of intra-arterial echographic images.

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    Picano et al. (1985) observed some differences in angle dependence among plaque types in studies of excised aortas. De Kroon and collaborators examined the backscatter from excised iliac arteries as a function of angle (de Kroon et al. 1991a, 1991b). These authors observed layer-dependent variation with angle, although the experimental apparatus permitted only modest departures from the perpendicular to the vessel surface.

  • Physical Properties of Tissues Relevant to Arterial Ultrasound Imaging and Blood Velocity Measurement

    2007, Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology
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    It has been recognized that IBS is dependent on machine factors, making it difficult to compare IBS measured using different machines (Ota et al. 1997), and that assumed values for attenuation of overlying tissues will affect estimated IBS (Bridal et al. 1998). Measurements in excised arteries have demonstrated higher backscatter in calcified and fibrous plaque compared with normal arteries or fatty plaque (Wickline 1993; Barzali et al. 1987; Bridal et al. 1998; Takiuchi et al. 2000; Waters et al. 2003) and anisotropic behavior with higher IBS in the radial orientation (Nguyen et al. 2002; de Kroon et al. 1991a). More complex techniques aimed at differentiating tissue types have been published (Spencer et al. 1997; Komiyama et al. 2000; Watson et al. 2000; Nair et al. 2002), but these are developed on the basis of discrimination between tissues, not on the basis of estimation of physical properties.

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