A Three Dimensional Model for Generating the Texture in B-Scan Ultrasound Images

Abstract

A three-dimensional model for production of gray scale texture in ultrasound B-mode images is described. The model computes time-dependent echo signals resulting from scattering of acoustic pulses by particles randomly distributed in an attenuating medium and transforms these signals into a gray scale image. Specific transducer and pulser-receiver characteristics are accounted for, as well as the three-dimensional nature of the problem, without loss of computational efficiency. The model generates texture that closely corresponds to that found experimentally in ultrasound images of tissue-mimicking phantoms. The dependence of the texture upon the depth of the region that was scanned and on the characteristics of the transducer-receiver system were clearly demonstrated. Good agreement between theory and experiment was found for the texture in phantoms containing simulated spherical low-scatter tumors.