Power laws prevail in medical ultrasound

TL;DR

This paper reviews evidence that power law relationships are fundamental to various phenomena in medical ultrasound, offering a unified framework for understanding tissue-wave interactions and improving tissue characterization.

Contribution

It synthesizes 60 years of literature to establish power law behaviors as a core principle in ultrasound physics and tissue interaction modeling.

Findings

Power law relations underlie backscatter, attenuation, and speckle formation.

Power laws are fundamental in shear wave elastography.

Unified framework aids tissue characterization.

Abstract

Major topics in medical ultrasound rest on the physics of wave propagation through tissue. These include fundamental treatments of backscatter, speed of sound, attenuation, and speckle formation. Each topic has developed its own rich history, lexicography, and particular treatments. However, there is ample evidence to suggest that power law relations are operating at a fundamental level in all the basic phenomena related to medical ultrasound. This review paper develops, from literature over the past 60 years, the accumulating theoretical basis and experimental evidence that point to power law behaviors underlying the most important tissue-wave interactions in ultrasound and in shear waves which are now employed in elastography. The common framework of power laws can be useful as a coherent overview of topics, and as a means for improved tissue characterization.