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Acoustic Bragg diffraction from human tissues

Abstract

ANALYTICAL methods based on the use of ultrasonic beams are potentially of interest for the remote, in vivo characterisation of the mechanical structure of human tissues1,2. We have investigated, from this point of view, the relationship, for a specific volume of tissue, between the recorded ultrasonic backscattering amplitude and the orientation of the tissue structure to the ultrasonic beam. Experimentally this measurement is closely analogous to Bragg's X-ray crystallography arrangement except that we use 180° backscattering geometry.

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References

  1. Hill, C. R., in Proc. Symp. Ultrasonics International, 1975 (Iliffe, London, in the press).

  2. Hill, C. R., Proc. Seminar on Ultrasonic Tissue Characterisation (US National Science Foundation, Washington D.C., in the press).

  3. Hill, C. R., Ultrasonics in Medicine, 14–20 (Excerpta Medica, 1974).

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  4. Fields, S., and Dunn, F., J. acoust. Soc. Am., 54, 809–812 (1973).

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  5. Nicholas, D., and Hill, C. R., in Proc. Symp. Ultrasonics International, 1975 (Iliffe, London, in the press).

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NICHOLAS, D., HILL, C. Acoustic Bragg diffraction from human tissues. Nature 257, 305–306 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/257305a0

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