REFLECTION AND TRANSMISSION TECHNIQUES FOR HIGH RESOLUTION, QUANTITATIVE SYNTHESIS OF ULTRASOUND PARAMETER IMAGES.

Reflection and transmission techniques using focused and synthetically focused ultrasound energy have been developed which permit the synthesis or reconstruction of images of impedance and attenuation. New quantitative transmission and reflection techniques for imaging acoustic impedance are discussed. Semi-quantitative images of reflection distribution which are corrected for absorption and refraction are also obtained by these methods. Such high resolution reflection images (whose resolution distance is less than the mean wavelength of the associated transducers) are shown. In particular, images of phantoms, excised tissues, or in the vivo simulation images of the 2-D reflection impulse response function may be obtained. 12 refs.