Characterization of porcine muscle tissue using ultrasound time-domain correlation techniques

The ultrasound time-domain correlation (UTDC) technique involves the determination of a similarity factor, the correlation coefficient. For this application, UTDC was used to calculate the maximum correlation coefficient between RF echo signals of porcine muscle tissue obtained at different times and for different echo spacings. The porcine muscle samples were procured from a slaughterhouse and data acquisition began within 1.5 h post mortem. The echo signals were obtained with a customized ultrasound data acquisition system and analyzed using a 486 PC. The results indicated that observed trends in the correlation coefficient could be used to determine muscle activity post mortem and to determine when this activity stopped, which was approximately 10 h post mortem. An explanation of the methods used and results obtained is presented