Experimental validation of a method for the simulation of backscatter signals from finite, shaped scatterers

An efficient method for the calculation of backscatter signals from finite, shaped scatterers is presented and validated. Good agreement is shown between the proposed method, theoretical results and measurements obtained from single scatterers. It is also shown that the method will breakdown if the dimensions of the scatterer get significantly larger than half the wave length of the applied ultrasonic field. With an average myocyte length of 120μm, the limits of validity were found to be sufficient to make the method suitable for the modeling of myocardial fiber orientation in the echocardiographic frequency range (2-7MHz).