Characterization of ultrasonic B-scans using non-Rayleigh statistics

The envelope of the ultrasonic echo backscattered from tissues is modeled using non-Rayleigh statistics, namely the K-distribution. We show that the K-distribution can be used to describe the envelope of the echo, and its parameters may be used to distinguish between different regions in ultrasonic B-scan images. The validity of the model is tested using phantoms. Preliminary results indicate that the parameters of the K-distribution may be used to separate targets, in which the number of scatterers or the scattering cross-sections differ from that of the background. The method of employing the parameters of the K-distribution appears to be better than the methods based solely on the signal-to-noise ratio.