Tomographic attenuation imaging with pulse-echo ultrasound

Ultrasound attenuation imaging can increase specificity and sensitivity in breast tumor detection. As tumors often have a higher attenuation coefficient compared to that of the surrounding tissue, shadowing occurs behind high attenuating regions in ultrasound images. Based on the detection of shadowed lesions, suspicious areas can be outlined for reconstruction of the attenuation map. Here, we take advantage of multiple views in a 1024-channel real-time tomographic configuration to precisely localize suspicious regions of interest and quantify the corresponding attenuation coefficients.