Phase-Insensitive Ultrasound Tomography of the Attenuation of Breast Phantoms

This paper describes imaging of breast phantoms using a prototype phase-insensitive ultrasound computed tomography (piUCT) system. The piUCT technique generates quantitative maps of acoustic attenuation with potential application to the detection of breast cancer. The effectiveness of the piUCT technique has been previously demonstrated in the laboratory through imaging of small, cylindrical, polyurethane phantoms. This paper presents images generated by the new system, which was designed to image breasts and breast phantoms up to 200 mm in diameter at 3.2 MHz. piUCT images are compared with XCT images and laboratory measurements of the attenuation of the constituent materials of the phantom.