Quantitative ultrasonic assessment of tissue macroscopic heterogeneity

Ultrasonic image analysis is proposed as a quantitative technique for assessment of meat quality. Experimental results on the measurement of meat macroscopic heterogeneity due to the connective tissue are presented. The method is based on the estimation of the cross-correlation coefficient of echographic signals. In the case of a homogeneous scattering medium, the cross-correlation coefficient is theoretically expected to rapidly vanish with the distance between signals. The value of the cross-correlation coefficient depends only on the beam width. In the case of a heterogeneous medium (macroscopic connective tissue), the correlation coefficient does not vanish and its value depends on the degree of heterogeneity. The degree of heterogeneity is also estimated through the ratio between the area of the macroscopic echogenic structure and the whole image area. It is shown that the degree of heterogeneity influences both the cross-correlation coefficient and the image surface ratio