title: Spatial variation of acoustic parameters in human skin: an in vitro study between 22 and 45 MHz.
abstract: This study of spatial variance of acoustic parameters was performed on eight nonfrozen samples of female abdominal skin (women 46.5 +/- 12.2 years old), obtained during plastic surgery. Intra- and interindividual variations are discussed on the basis of estimations of three acoustic parameters (slope of attenuation- beta; integrated attenuation coefficient- IAC; integrated backscattering coefficient- IBC) and one texture parameter (based on two estimators of effective density of scatterers: alpha(2) and alpha(1/2)) as a function of surface area and depth of acquisition in the frequency range 22 to 45 MHz. Values of intraindividual variations varied from 7.1% for IAC to 23.2% for IBC, and significantly decreased at a ratio between 1.2 to 2.3 when the acquisition surface area was increased from 4 mm(2) to 1 cm(2). Interindividual variations were higher than intraindividual variations, and varied from 14.2% for alpha(1/2) to 51% for IBC. The mean values (+/- SD) for all specimens combined, estimated with a large number of independent radiofrequency (RF) lines (400) and for a surface area of exploration of 4 cm(2), were 1.06 +/- 0.17 dB cm(-1) MHz(-1) for beta, 135 +/- 37 dB cm(-1) for IAC, (3.7 +/- 1.9) x 10(-2) cm(-1) sr(-1) for IBC, 1.40 +/- 0.17 scatterers/resolution cell for alpha(2) and 1.32 +/- 0.27 scatterers/resolution cell for alpha(1/2). Finally, attenuation micro(f) and backscattering coefficient sigma(b)(f) were compared to published results for the same parameters measured in human skin.
authors.affiliation: LUSSI FRE 2448, Faculty of Medicine, Tours, France. lebert_m@med.univ_tours.fr
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lebertre
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ossant
authors.forename: Loïc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vaillant
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Diridollou
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Patat
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012867:Skin / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014465:Ultrasonics; D014463:Ultrasonography