查看文章

The statistics of the ultrasound echo contains information regarding the scattering properties of the tissue. The tissue characterization can be carried out through the ultrasound scattering by using statistical models. By matching the probability density function (PDF) of statistical distributions to the envelope of backscattered echo, the ultrasonic tissue characterization is possible. However, the distribution of scatterers in biological tissue does not simply obey the Rayleigh statistical models. Thus, it is significant to harness the pre-Rayleigh and post-Rayleigh statistics of backscattered signals. Nakagami-m/lognormal distribution has been considered one of the optimum statistical distribution to capture echo envelope statistics. However, due to the complexity of the algebraic representation of its PDF its use has been largely limited. In this study, an explicit expression for the PDF of Nakagami-m/lognormal distribution is derived. The validity of the results is verified through comparisons with results obtained from numerical integrations while its usefulness in ultrasound is shown through comparisons with realistic simulated ultrasound scenarios.