Tissue Attenuation Estimation by Mean Frequency Downshift and Bandwidth Limitation

Attenuation of ultrasound in tissue can be estimated from the propagating pulse center frequency downshift. This method assumes that the envelope of the emitted pulse can be approximated by a Gaussian function and that the attenuation linearly depends on frequency. The resulting downshift of the mean frequency depends not only on attenuation but also on pulse bandwidth and propagation distance. This kind of approach is valid for narrowband pulses and shallow penetration depth. However, for short pulses and deep penetration, the frequency downshift is rather large and the received spectra are modified by the limited bandwidth of the receiving system. In this paper, the modified formula modeling the mean frequency of backscattered echoes is presented. The equation takes into account the limitation of the bandwidth due to bandpass filtration of the received echoes. This approach was applied to simulate the variation of the mean frequency of the pulse propagating for both weakly and strongly attenuating media and for narrowband and wideband pulses. The behavior of both the standard and modified estimates of attenuation has been validated using RF data from a tissue-mimicking phantom. The ultrasound attenuation of the phantom, determined with a corrected equation, was close to its true value, while the result obtained using the original formula was lower by as much as 50% at a depth of 8 cm.