Impingement angle and scan direction influence on B-scan imaging in tissue classification

The potential critical influence of impingement angle and scan direction on B-scan imaging for tissue classification is explored in this work. The effects of variations of other system parameters on B-scan images are also investigated. Particular attention is paid to the influence of the direction of propagation of the interrogating wave within the tissue structure. This is done in order to explore the hypothesis that the detection of malignant areas embedded inside a host ordered tissue can be improved by exploiting the disordered structure of the diseased region. Results of preliminary experiments performed on a phantom give an indication that speckle pattern variations due to impingement angle and/or scan direction can occur that relates to the structural properties of the tissue from a scattering point of view. Sample problems are presented to differentiate the structural variations within a tissue by analyzing a phantom constructed of unidirectional fibers arranged in layers that are staggered with respect to each other.<>