Ultrasonic imaging of acoustic attenuation coefficients with confidence estimation

An ultrasound imaging system which produces attenuation coefficient maps of an image field comprising:

• an ultrasound probe adapted to acquire ultrasonic echo signals from an image field;
• a beamformer adapted to process the ultrasonic echo signals to produce coherent echo signals for an ultrasound image of the image field;
• an attenuation coefficient estimator, coupled to the beamformer, and adapted to estimate attenuation coefficient values for maps of attenuation coefficients of the image field,
• characterized in that:
• the attenuation coefficient estimator is further adapted to produce a plurality of attenuation coefficient maps by two or more of the methods of the spectral difference method, the spectral log difference method, and the maximum likelihood method;
• the system comprises an attenuation coefficient map compounder, coupled to the attenuation coefficient estimator, and adapted to compound the plurality of attenuation coefficient maps produced by said two or more different attenuation coefficient estimation methods;
• and
• the system comprises a display adapted to display attenuation coefficient maps produced by the attenuation coefficient map compounder.