Acoustic backscatter size characterization of in-vitro fetal lung alveolar sacs

The power spectrum of acoustic A-mode backscattering was used to determine size of small scatterers. Mean acoustic size of scatterers and histological measurement of mean alveolar sac size were determined from alveolar regions of the normal preterm lamb lung. Comparisons between these date showed no statistical difference (/spl alpha/=0.05, p value=0.144), and suggested that A-mode ultrasound could provide important information about the anatomical changes of the developing alveolus.